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I 






E U L O G Y 



ON THE 



LIFE AND CHARACTER 



OF 



TIIEODRIC ROMBYN BECK, N. D., LL. D.. 



DKLIVERF.D BEFORE THE 



MEWCAL SOCIETY OF TUK STATE OF XEW-YORK 



BY FRANK HASTINGS HAMILTON. W. I). 



PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF THE SENATE. 



****** 



ALBA N Y : 

PRINTED BY CHARLES VAN BENTBUYSEX. 
1856. 



•ft 



EULOGY. 



It is a SAvift current — that stream of life on which 
we ride. We fall asleep — and awaking, find ourselves 
almost home. Our companions, too, are constantly 
changing; at every moment new ones come aboard, 
and old ones leave us ; and we have scarcely time to 
become familiar with their faces, or to make ourselves 
acquainted with their characters and purposes, before 
they are summoned to the gangway — the boat is 
lowered, and we wave them a friendly farewell. All 
along the sands of that silent shore, which we now 
so faintly see, our friends have left us ; and we are 
awaiting the time when, cheerfully, manfully and 
hopefully, I trust, we shall receive our summons, and 
"depart alike to the inevitable grave." 

I am not, gentlemen, one of your oldest members — 
yet, of those who occupied these seats when, for the 
first time I listened to your deliberations, not a few 
are now dead ; but of the pioneers — the founders and 
early members, not one remains. Most of them died 
many years since, and their vacant places have been 
so long filled by others, that we have ceased to notice 
their absence. 



But to-day, a chair is vacant which no one has yet 
come to fill — where, for nearly forty years, has sat a 
beloved associate, and to which you have, for as many 
years, been accustomed to look for counsel. During 
all this period its claimant has been rarely absent, 
unless detained by sickness or by urgent and impera- 
tive duties. But, in the absence of its venerated 
occupant, during our deliberations which have just 
closed, and on this anniversary occasion, you have, I 
am instructed to tell you, the sad and significant 
announcement that Theodric Komeyn Beck is dead, 
and that he, also, will counsel with us no more. 

Let us pause, while we review his labors, and 
contemplate our loss — for, in such a life as has here 
terminated, there must be something instructive, and 
we ought carefully to estimate its value. Upon the 
speaker, who was once his pupil, subsequently his 
colleague, and now, by your partial suffrages, his 
successor, has seemed to devolve the duty to trace 
his history — to epilogue the long chapter of his life, 
and to draw the moral; in order that these things 
may hereafter find a faithful record upon the annals 
of our society. With an earnest desire that I may 
do no injustice to a theme so sacred, both to the living 
and to the dead, yet with doubting and unequal steps, 
I undertake the task. 

Theodric Romeyn Beck was born at Schenectady, 
in the State of New-York, on the 11th day of August, 
1791. The family were of English origin, but so 



long settled at Schenectady that their descendants, 
by association and intermarriage, became identified 
with the Dutch population. 

The first of the family, of whom we have any 
knowledge, was Caleb Beck, who sailed as master of 
a vessel from Boston to England, and who having 
married at Schenectady, was subsequently lost at sea. 
His son, the great grandfather of the subject of our 
memoir, as we learn from the probate of his will 
before the commissioners at Albany, in the year 1733, 
was "Caleb Beck, gentleman, a freeholder in this 
colony; having during his life, and at the time of his 
death, goods, rights and credits in divers places in 
our province." 

His grandfather was admitted an attorney at law, 
to practice in all the courts, at Albany, in the year 
1751. 

The father of Dr. Beck, who also studied law, but 
never practised, married Catherine Theresa Romeyn, 
only daughter of the Rev. Derick Romeyn, D. D., 
then pastor of the Reformed Dutch Church, at Sche- 
nectady, and well known as a distinguished professor 
of Theology in that church. 

The ancestral name Caleb, was preserved through 
five successive generations, having only ceased with 
the brother of Dr. Beck. 

The Romeyn family came from Holland, and settled 
in New- York about the middle of the seventeenth 
century. Among those who acquired distinction, and 



whose names have come down to us, in addition to 
the Rev. Derick Romeyn, of whom we have spoken, 
we may recognize the brother of Mrs. Beck, the Rev. 
John B. Romeyn, D. D., who died in New- York, in 
1825; and a cousin, Nicholas Romaine, M. D., who 
was president of this Society in 1809, 10, and 11, 
and who was made an Honorary Member in 1812. 

Dr. Beck's father having died in 1798, at the age 
of 27 years, left his five sons to the sole care of his 
young widow, to whose indomitable energy, sound 
education, piety and good judgment they are probably 
mainly indebted for the distinction which they all 
subsequently attained. 

Abraham, a lawyer of much promise, died at St. 
Louis, Missouri, in 1821. 

John Brodhead Beck, M. D., who was elected in 
1829 a member of this Society, late Professor of Mate- 
ria Medica and Botany, at the College of Physicians 
and Surgeons in the city of New- York, and author of 
many medical works, besides the chapter contributed 
by him to "Beck's Medical Jurisprudence," died in 
New- York, in 1851. 

Nicholas Fairly Beck died while holding the office 
of Adjutant General of the State, under DeWitt 
Clinton, in 1830. And 

Lewis C. Beck, M. D., late Professor of Chemistry 
in the Albany Medical College, and in the Rutgers 
College, New- Jersey, author of several scientific 
works, and who, as a member of the scientific corps 



which made the New- York Geological Survey, con- 
tributed the volume on Mineralogy, one of the most 
valuable portions of that excellent State Report, died 
in 1853. 

The rudiments of Dr. Beck's education were acqui- 
red at the grammar school of his native city, under 
the more immediate supervision of his maternal 
grandfather, the Rev. Derick Romeyn, D. D. 

He entered Union College, at Schenectady, in 1803, 
and graduated in 1807, when only sixteen years old. 
Union College had then been established but a few 
years, and, in a great measure, through the exertions 
of Dr. Romeyn. 

Immediately on leaving college he came to this 
city, and was admitted to the office of Drs. Low and 
McClelland, the latter of which gentlemen was the 
first president of this Society. 

His medical education was completed, however, in 
the city of New- York, under the personal instructions 
of the celebrated Dr. David Hosack. At the same 
time, also, he attended the lectures at the College of 
Physicians and Surgeons of the Eastern District, then 
recently established in that city; and in 1811 he 
received the degree of Doctor in Medicine ; on which 
occasion he presented, as the subject of his inaugural 
thesis, a paper on "Insanity" — the first fruits of the 
study of that subject which afterwards engaged so 
large a share of his attention, and upon which he 
expended such stores of learning, and exhibited such 



8 

powers of research. The thesis was published in a 
pamphlet form, containing thirty-four pages, and 
received from various quarters highly nattering 
notices. 

In this early composition of the young student, we 
may see plainly enough the presage of his future 
eminence. Claiming, with characteristic modesty, 
no credit for originality, and acknowledging that he 
had no practical experience to relate, he gathered 
from a great number of sources facts and opinions, 
and so condensed and arranged them as to present a 
complete epitome of what was then known upon this, 
with us, hitherto neglected subject. With great care 
he arranged also, in a multitude of foot notes, all his 
references, which, in themselves, testify to his already 
remarkable classical attainments, and to his laborious 
habits. 

After a brief notice of the history and literature 
of insanity, there follows a synopsis of its symptoma- 
tology, its etiology, pathology, and prognosis. In 
conclusion, he has devoted a chapter to medical 
jurisprudence and police, and a section to the treat- 
ment of the insane, wherein he protests against the 
confinement of criminal lunatics in jail, as incompati- 
ble with proper attendance and with the safety of the 
other prisoners. He advocates also the establishment 
of public asylums, which shall be subject to the 
supervision and control of competent commissioners. 






9 

On his return from New- York, he commenced at 
once the practice of medicine and surgery in this 
city, and the same year he was appointed physician 
to the alms-house. On resigning this office, he pre- 
sented a memorial to the supervisors on the subject 
of work-houses, the practical wisdom of which daily 
experience proves at this time. 

Dr. Beck was married in 1814, at Caldwell, Warren 
county, to Harriet, daughter of James Caldwell, a 
merchant of this city, but whose principal estate and 
residence was at Caldwell, on Lake George. He was 
a gentleman of Irish birth, and well known for his 
wit and hospitality. His humor has been especially 
celebrated in several of the entertaining tales written 
by J. K. Paulding. 

In the year 1815, at the age of twenty-four, Dr. 
Beck received the appointment of professor of the 
Institutes of Medicine, and of lecturer on Medical 
Jurisprudence in the College of Physicians and Sur- 
geons for the Western District, established under the 
auspices of the Regents, at Fairfield, in Herkimer 
county, New- York; an institution then in the third 
year of its existence. Notwithstanding this appoint- 
ment, which required his absence from home only a 
small portion of the year, he continued in the practice 
of his profession at Albany. 

At the opening of the term in 1824, he delivered 
an introductory lecture on the Advantages of Country 
Medical Schools, which was published by request of 



10 

the class. The subject had been suggested by a 
remark made in an introductory lecture by one of 
the professors in New- York, disparaging to country 
schools, and which had found its way into some of 
the New- York prints, to which this discourse was a 
severe, but dignified and dispassionate reply. 

In testimony of their utility, he referred, among 
other things, to the not inconsiderable number of 
their graduates who had already risen to merited 
distinction ; and in answer to the illiberal declaration 
of the New- York professor, that the Legislature ought 
to withdraw its aid from all other schools and concen- 
trate its efforts upon the "school of the metropolis," 
Dr. Beck justly said : 

" The State of New- York, we may safely predict, 
will never adopt the counsel that has been given her. 
Her statesmen, her legislators, her learned men and 
her citizens generally, have not thus estimated the 
wants of the community. Her course uniformly has 
been to cherish learning in every situation, and to 
foster its first fruits with the care of a parent. At 
this crisis, flourishing in arts, unrivalled in commerce 
and exalted in wealth, she surely will not stint her 
supplies, or pour them with a partial hand into one 
portion of her dominion, while she leaves the other 
to need. She will not destroy what is flourishing, or 
overturn what is becoming permanent. She will, as 
she has ever done, regard the interests of education 
with an impartial eye. 



11 

" In thus doing she can alone perform her proper 
duties, and fulfil the promises of her high destiny." 

Already, in 1817, Dr. Beck had withdrawn entirely 
from the practice of medicine, having in this year 
accepted the place of Principal to the Albany acad- 
emy. 

His success as a practitioner had been quite equal 
to his expectations, and with less devotion to science, 
or with less care for his patients, he might have con- 
tinued in practice. But it was soon manifest, both 
to himself and to his friends, that he could not long 
continue an equal attention to both. He was unwill- 
ing to assume the responsibilities of a physician 
without devoting to each case that exact amount of 
careful investigation which his high standard of 
fitness demanded. Every new feature in disease 
provoked, in a mind trained to accuracy and observa- 
tion, new solicitudes, new doubts, and claimed new 
and more thorough examination. Added to this, the 
scenes of suffering which he was compelled to witness 
wore gradually upon a frame naturally sensitive, and 
his health began visibly to decline. 

At first, one must naturally regret that a mind so 
well stored, and so eminently qualified, in many 
respects, to minister successfully to the sick, should 
have been diverted thus prematurely from its original 
purpose. It would be difficult to measure the amount 
of good which, as a practitioner of medicine, he might 
have accomplished; how much individual suffering 



12 

such talents might have alleviated, and how many 
valuable lives such attainments might have saved. 
This is a loss which the citizens of his adopted town, 
and of the country adjacent, have chiefly sustained, 
and which they must estimate. It is a question to 
them whether he has made himself as useful as a 
teacher as he might have been as a physician ; but I 
believe they will be slow to find fault with his choice, 
when they have carefully figured up the account, and 
have balanced the reckoning. In fact, I think, that 
in the fame alone which his illustrious name has given 
to their city, they must find an adequate apology and 
compensation for all his apparent neglect of their 
physical sufferings. 

But this would be indeed only a narrow view of 
the question upon which the young, and, I have no 
doubt, conscientious Beck, assumed thus early the 
right to decide for himself. Although Dr. Beck 
formally, at this time, relinquished the practice of 
medicine, and never again resumed it, yet his inte- 
rest in the science did not cease, but to the improve- 
ment and perfection of some one or another of its 
departments the balance of his life was, in a great 
measure, devoted, and especially to such portions as 
were of general or of universal interest. He seemed 
to have called in his attention from a narrow range 
of objects, only that he might fasten it again upon a 
much wider range. He withdrew himself from the 
alms-houses and the jails, in which the unfortunate 



13 

maniacs were treated rather as criminals than as 
proper objects of sympathy and of medical care, that 
he might, in the retirement of his study, within 
which he had accumulated nearly all the experience 
of the world, devise the more unerringly the means 
of unfettering their intellects and their limbs, then 
so cruelly chained. 

In a letter to his uncle, Dr. Romeyn, then in 
Europe, dated June 30, 1814, he says : "I have begun 
to look upon medicine in a very different manner 
from what I formerly did. Although delighted with 
the study yet I dislike the practice, and I had not 
acquired sufficiently comprehensive views of its value 
and great importance as an object of research. I 
now find it a subject worthy of my mind, and for 
some time past I have brought all my energies to its 
examination." 

From this remarkable passage, in which we have 
definitely the plan of his future life, we learn also 
what enlarged and intelligent views he entertained 
of the value of true medical science. 

In 1829 Dr. Beck was elected President of this 
Society, and was re-elected the two succeeding 
years — in itself a sufficient testimony of the esteem 
in which he was held by his fellow-members. 

His first annual address was devoted mainly to the 
subject of "Medical Evidence," which he regarded as 
embracing not only the interests of the profession, 
but of the community generally. In this address he 



14 

urges the propriety of appointing in certain counties, 
districts, or parts of the State, medical men, who 
shall be especially charged with the duty of making 
the examinations upon the cadaver, in order that by 
experience and study they may become better fitted 
for the performance of this important duty. In all 
cases he believed the medical witness ought to be 
permitted to present a " written report" of his exami- 
nation, and not be required to give it verbally and 
without sufficient preparation. Nor could Dr. Beck 
see any good reason why, if such services are impor- 
tant to the community in promoting the proper 
administration of justice, the medical men who render 
them are not entitled to receive an adequate compen- 
sation. "There is not," says Dr. Beck, "an indi- 
vidual attending on any of our courts, who is not paid 
for his time and services, with the exception of such 
as are engaged in these investigations." 

In his second annual address he calls the attention 
of the society to the rapid progress of the science of 
medicine, especially in its growing distrust of mere 
medical theories, and in its devotion to pathology, 
anatomy, chemistry, materia medica, and the collate- 
ral sciences. In defence of those who pursue the 
study of anatomy, he utters the following just senti- 
ment : "All will grant their pursuit would not have 
been selected except from a high sense of duty. It 
requires some lofty incitement — some moral courage, 
to be thus employed. The mysterious change which 



death induces, is alone sufficient to startle the most 
buoyant spirit ; but with this, the pathologist must 
familiarize himself. He proceeds to his high office 
at the risk of health — often, indeed, of existence." 

In conclusion, he bestows a well merited rebuke 
upon those who pretend to employ vegetable reme- 
dies to the exclusion of mineral, on the assumed 
ground that while minerals are poisonous, vegetables 
are innocuous, demonstrating, by a reference to their 
well known properties, that among vegetables may 
be found the most active poisons in nature ; and he 
appeals to his countrymen that they will not open 
wide the door to empiricism, and thus contribute to 
the destruction of a profession so important as that 
of medicine. 

As a theme for his last annual discourse, Dr. Beck 
selected the subject of Small Pox, as one of " perma- 
nent and abiding interest, not only to us as medical 
men, but to the whole community, indeed to the 
whole human race." 

This paper consists mainly of a rapid history of 
the origin and progress of this terrible scourge, and 
of the value and necessity of thorough vaccination, 
with a view to its ultimate extinction. 

"I do not pretend," says Dr. Beck, "to recommend 
laws exactly similar to those that have been enume- 
rated, for our free governments, but I will say that 
they furnish subjects for serious consideration. Whe- 
ther some regulations could not be devised to arouse 



16 

the apathy of that portion of the community who 
are always the largest sufferers — whether the appoint- 
ment by authority of medical men, particularly 
charged with the duty of vaccination, and preserving 
and transmitting the vaccine matter, and obliged to 
keep registers of those they attend — whether the 
promulgation of instructions, stating the dangers that 
threaten, the misery and mortality that may be 
avoided, the circumstances that prevent the complete 
influence of the cow pox, and the precautions neces- 
sary for its constitutional effects — whether, in fine, 
a census should not be taken of those who have not 
labored under one or other of these diseases, and 
they be compelled, under proper penalties, to submit 
to the latter — are suggestions which, to my mind, 
deserve some weight with those who have the power 
to render them imperative. 

" Life can be hazarded under our own roof as much 
as in the field of battle, and the experience of all 
nations shows that in this case the chances have been 
fearful. When the means of prevention are within 
the power of a determined and united community, 
what can prevent their adoption with as much efficacy 
as ever resulted from the mandates of an absolute 
monarch ? 

"As a profession, we have not been wanting in 
sounding the alarm and providing against the danger. 
And it is a proud reflection, that the dangers of the 
small pox, its wide-spread ravages, and its constant 



17 

succession, have been broken in upon by one who 
lived and died a physician. But he must be insensi- 
ble to the loftier bearings of the subject, who can 
leave its consideration without referring to the govern- 
ment of that Being in whose hands are the ' issues of 
all things.' 

" Its history teaches us gratitude to that Providence 
which does not willingly afflict the children of men ; 
which suffers physical as well as moral evil only for 
a season, and which, while it has permitted former 
generations to be scourged by ravaging infection, has, 
in mercy to us, removed the dreaded pestilence, or 
confined the operation of its destructive march." 

I have been thus diffuse in my quotations from 
these several addresses of Dr. Beck, that you may see 
to how late a period he continued to feel an interest 
in, and to cultivate laboriously the science of medi- 
cine. Selecting always those themes for his discourses 
which were of the largest interest to the largest 
number, he was able to discuss them in a manner 
which indicated an intimate acquaintance with all 
their relations and bearings. His suggestions are 
constantly such as might become a physician, a phi- 
lanthropist and a statesman ; and that they were not 
Utopian is proven by the fact that very many of 
them, either in their original forms, or only slightly 
modified, have been adopted as measures of state 
policy and general hygiene, or, if not adopted, they 

still continue to commend themselves to the intelli- 
3 



18 

gence of enlightened men everywhere, and physicians 
still continue to reiterate his sentiments, and to urge 
their adoption upon those who have the care of the 
public interests. 

Nor can I omit to indicate as worthy of especial 
notice, the humble, christian-like deference with 
which he recognizes the hand of a kind Providence 
in all those discoveries and improvements in medi- 
cine, resulting in the amelioration of the condition of 
our race, of which our profession has been so long the 
chosen and honored medium. 

In 1826 Dr. Beck was made Professor of Medical 
Jurisprudence, at Fairfield Medical College, instead 
of lecturer, and in 1836 he was transferred from the 
chair of practice to that of Materia Medica, in accord- 
ance with his own request ; and these two chairs he 
continued to occupy until the abandonment of the 
College in 1840. 

Medical colleges had been established both at 
Albany and Geneva under new and favorable auspi- 
ces, each having received liberal endowments from 
the State, and although the College at Fairfield still 
retained the confidence of the profession to such a 
degree that in its last catalogue its pupils numbered 
114, and its graduates 33 ; yet as it was apparent that 
the wants of the community did not require three 
colleges situated so near each other, and as both 
Albany and Geneva had the advantage in their rela- 
tive size and accessibility, it was determined by the 




19 

several professors to discontinue the lectures at Fair- 
field. 

At this time the faculty consisted of Westel Wil- 
loughby, John De Lamater, James Hadley, James 
McNaughton, T. Romeyn Beck and myself, as their 
newly appointed Professor in the chair of Surgery, 
recently made vacant by the resignation of Reuben 
D. Mussey. 

Very few changes had ever occurred in the school 
since its first organization. Lyman Spaulding, the 
first professor of anatomy and surgery had died; 
Joseph White and Delos White, respectively profess- 
sors of surgery and of anatomy, had resigned, and 
also Dr. Mussey, my immediate predecessor. With 
these exceptions the faculty remained as in 1815. 

So intimately associated is the history of this 
college with the subject of this memoir, that I shall 
be pardoned for occupying your time with a lively 
description of the college and country adjacent, writ- 
ten by an old pupil,* and published in the Nov. No. 
for 1851 of the New- York Lancet. 

"The pioneers in medicine in central New- York 
are almost forgotten; and to refresh the memories of 
the brethren we propose a short sketch of the Pro- 
fessors of the 'Old Pioneer' school in Herkimer 
county, N.Y. # * * # * * 

"Does any one remember crossing the country in a 
rude wagon from Little Falls to the village of Fair- 

* B W. Richmond, of Ashtabula, Ohio. 



20 

field, eight miles into the country ? It is a grazing 
district — the farm-houses are plain, the farmers 
plainer, and their daughters expert at cheese and 
butter making, and even often successful in securing 
a graduate for a husband. The village lies in a high 
region of country, and is mean in appearance, and 
wholly without local interest, save what was imparted 
by the medical college and an academy. 

" The school was started under the management of 
such old veterans as Willoughby, White, Hadley, and 
De Lamater, somewhere about the year 1812. 

"At an early day, in the very heart of the wilder- 
ness, Dr. Willoughby and a partner in medicine had 
entered on the race for fame, as practitioners of 
medicine and surgery, in that part of the country 
which lies between Fairfield and Newport. They 
lived in a log cabin — were both bachelors — cooked 
and washed for themselves, and made their sallies 
on horseback into the surrounding forest, broken only 
here and there by a dwelling. One of the partners 
is lost to memory, so far as we know, but Dr. Wil- 
loughby became the first professor of obstetrics in 
the Fairfield Medical College, and remained connected 
with it until its close. Dr. Willoughby acquired 
wealth, and Willoughby Medical College in Ohio, 
received from him a liberal endowment and its name. 

" This bye place had been selected for the school 
because students could live cheaply, and the rural 
character of its population rendered it probable that 



21 

they would be subject to fewer temptations to vice 
and idleness. A small stone edifice was erected into 
which three hundred students and sometimes more 
were crowded." 

From these rude walls, built upon these cold and 
inhospitable hills, have gone out more than three 
thousand pupils, and nearly six hundred graduates; 
of whom nineteen have held, or do now hold, pro- 
fessorships in colleges, eight are in the United States 
service as surgeons, and very many more have risen 
to distinction in the practice of medicine and surgery. 

Immediately on resigning his place at Fairfield, 
Dr. Beck was elected to the chair of Materia Medica, 
in the Albany Medical College. The chair of Medi- 
cal Jurisprudence, to which he would most naturally 
have been chosen, being already occupied by a very 
able teacher, Amos Dean, Esq. 

This professorship Dr. Beck continued to hold until 
1854, when his declining health, together with an 
accumulation of other pressing duties, induced him 
to resign his place as an active officer, having now 
taught medicine in some of its departments for 
thirty-nine years, and the trustees then conferred 
upon him the honorary distinction of Emeritus Pro- 
fessor. 

It has been mentioned that in 1817, Dr. Beck was 
made principal of the Albany Academy ; and in a 
letter to his uncle, Dr. Romeyn, dated August 1, 
1817, shortly before the appointment, he writes as 



22 

follows : " This I know, that by zeal and attention 
on the part of the instructors, it can be made an 
eminent and useful institution. * * I pray you 
to believe that the mention of my name as a candi- 
date, was unsolicited and very unexpected. It is a 
spontaneous offer, and as such I shall always look on 
it as a testimony of no mean value." The citizens 
of Albany and his numerous pupils, now scattered 
throughout the United States, can bear witness, how 
great has been his zeal in behalf of that institution, 
and how well he has fulfilled his promise. 

The building occupied as the academy, was erected 
for this purpose by the city authorities ; it is large, 
commodious and distinguished, even among the nume- 
rous public edifices which adorn this capital, for its 
fine architectural proportions. Each department is 
supplied with able teachers, and with ample means 
for illustration, and during the more than thirty 
years of his administration, it has sustained a reputa- 
tion second to no similar institution in the State. 

I find in one of the Albany city papers, dated 
some years back, pencil sketches of a few of its most 
prominent citizens, among whom is mentioned Dr. 
Beck. The writer, who is not ignorant of his many 
other public services, and of his reputation abroad, 
thus speaks of his connection with the academy : 

" The Albany academy is an institution which has 
furnished the community with more mind, than any 
other academy in this country. A distinction that is 



23 

doubtless due to the admirable discipline, and well 
stored brain which Dr. Beck brought with him into 
the institution, in 181 7." 

In 1848, Dr. Beck resigned his place as principal 
of the academy, and on the death of James Steven- 
son, Esq., he succeeded him as president of the board 
of trustees. 

The "Society for the promotion of Agriculture, 
Arts, and Manufactures," was incorporated by the 
Legislature on the 12th of March, 1793, with Chan- 
cellor Livingston as its president. The existence of 
the corporation was limited by its charter to the first 
day of May, 1804. On the 2d day of April, 1804, 
the Legislature virtually renewed the charter, making 
it perpetual, changing the name of the corporation to 
that of "The Society for the Promotion of Useful 
Arts," and Chancellor Livingston was appointed the 
president of the new corporation. Dr. Beck was 
admitted a member of this society on the oth day of 
February, 1812. Among its officers, in addition to 
its distinguished president, already named, were 
Simeon De Witt, John Tayler, David Hosack, Ste- 
phen Van Rensselaer, De Witt Clinton, Edmund C. 
Genet, and others prominent in the history of our 
State. Although Dr. Beck was at this time only in 
his twenty-first year, yet at the second meeting after 
his election, he was made chairman of a standing 
committee of five, appointed "for the purpose of col- 
lecting and arranging such minerals as our State 



24 

affords." And on the 1st of April, 1812, less than 
two months after his admission, he was appointed to 
deliver the annual address at the following session of 
the society. This duty he performed on the 3d day 
of February, 1813, in the old Senate Chamber, the 
principal part of which, by means of changes made 
in the building, has been incorporated into the room 
in which we are now assembled. The object of this 
address, as he remarks in his preface, was to "exhibit 
at one view the mineral riches of the United States, 
with their various application to the arts, and to 
demonstrate the practicability of the increase of 
different manufactures, whose materials are derived 
from this source." 

This was eminently the field for Dr. Beck's pecu- 
liar talent; it was new, and everything had to be 
learned from the beginning ; a host of persons and 
authorities had to be consulted, and the whole to be 
carefully digested, analyzed, and applied. The result 
could not have disappointed those who were familiar 
with his habits ; but to one who had known him less, 
or who was at all acquainted with the difficulties 
which he was compelled to encounter in the little 
that was then known of the mineral resources of this 
country, the result seems astonishing; and to that- 
elaborate and timely paper, we think, the American 
manufacturer is, to-day, in no small degree indebted 
for his wealth and prosperity. It was the lens which 
first brought the scattered rays of light upon this 



25 

subject to a focus, and which now melts the ores in a 
thousand furnaces. If, as Dr. Beck asserts, American 
mineralogy was then in its infancy, he was the first 
to urge upon it a confidence in itself, and to demon- 
strate to others its unsuspected capacities, and it is 
through such early guidance and assistance that it 
has so rapidly grown to complete manhood, no less 
than to the "persevering industry, the unconquerable 
enterprise, and the extraordinary ingenuity of our 
citizens." 

In 1819, Dr. Beck read, before the same society, a 
"Memoir on Alum," the object of which was to pre- 
sent a view of one of the most important of the 
chemical arts. In preparing it, "I consulted," says 
Dr. Beck, "every work relating to the subject within 
my reach." 

" Had the work conducted some years ago by Prof. 
Cooper, of Philadelphia, under the title of the Empo- 
rium of Arts, been continued, this attempt would 
doubtless have been useless, as the subject under 
consideration was one of those which he proposed to 
notice. I venture, though with unequal steps, to 
examine the history, progress and present state of 
the manufacture of alum, with a hope that my inves- 
tigations may prove useful to some who are unable 
to consult systematical works, and above all, that 
they may direct the attention of our citizens to the 
means which they possess, within their own reach, 
4 



26 

of converting useless mineral products into rich 
sources of individual and national profit." 

This, together with the paper first mentioned, is 
published in the Transactions of the Society, before 
which they were delivered. 

The Albany Lyceum of Natural History, was incor- 
porated by the Legislature on the 23d day of April, 
1823. 

Stephen Van Rensselaer was, by the charter, 
appointed its first president, and Dr. Beck, its first 
vice-president. A union between this association 
and the society for the promotion of useful arts, was 
agreed upon and carried into effect in 1824, and con- 
summated in form by an act of the Legislature of 
the 27th of February, 1829, incorporating the Albany 
Institute, which was to consist of three departments : 
the first, that of the physical sciences and the arts, 
to consist of the society for the promotion of useful 
arts as then constituted; the second, that of natural 
history, to consist of the Albany Lyceum of Natural 
History, as then constituted ; the third, for the pro- 
motion of history and general literature, to be formed 
for the purpose. Of the Albany Institute so consti- 
tuted, dating back its foundation to the establishment 
of the society for the promotion of agriculture, arts 
and manufactures in 1793, and thus being, I believe, 
the oldest institution of this character in our State, 
and one of the oldest in our countrv, Dr, Beck was 



1^7 

not only one of the most active members, but it may 
be safely said, without doing injustice to many others 
who have been connected with it, that he did more 
to keep up its organization, to enlarge its library and 
collections, and generally to advance its interests, 
than any other person. Its proceedings, as well as its 
published transactions, bear evidence to the fidelity 
and zeal with which he labored for its prosperity. 
At the time of his death, and for man}- years before, 
he was its president. In 1835, Dr. Beck, by appoint- 
ment, delivered before the institute a eulogium on 
the life and services of Simeon DeWitt, Surveyor- 
General of the State. Chancellor of the University. 
and also, at the time of his death, one of the vice- 
presidents of the society. After a sketch of the life 
of the highly esteemed and venerable Surveyor- 
General, remarkable for the simplicity and clearness 
of the style and narrative, adverting to the loss which 
the institute had sustained in the death of other 
members, he closes in language which has a peculiar 
appropriateness on this occasion. 

"Happy, (says he), if, when our account is made 
up, we shall be found each in his appropriate sphere, 
like our honored fellow members, to have done some 
service to the community or the State. Then, 
whether in the morning of life, or at its fervid bust- 
ling noon-day, or in the declining hour, we depart, 
our memories will be cherished, and our names 
implore the passing tribute of a sigh." 



28 

One of the originators of the plan for the Geologi- 
cal Survey of the State, Dr. B. became one of its 
most ardent supporters, and under the successive 
Governors, he was entrusted with much of the super- 
vision of the work. As evidence of the great part 
which he took in this labor, I subjoin the dedication 
of the 5th volume, on "agriculture," written by E. 
Emmons, M.D. 
"To T. Eomeyn Beck, M.D. LL.D.: 

"Sir: There is more than one reason why the 
concluding divisions of the present work, undertaken 
to explore and illustrate the Natural History of the 
State of New- York, and conducted under legislative 
patronage, should be dedicated to you. 

"You were among the first to foster the enterprise, 
and remained its consistent advocate in times when 
adverse circumstances seemed to jeopardize its con- 
tinuance; much more than this, your whole life has 
been assiduously engaged in promoting the advance 
of science and the spread of popular education, and 
the published results of your scientific and literary 
labors, may be referred to as reflecting an honor upon 
your native State. Would that the merits of the 
present volume were such as to render it more worthy 
its dedication." 

The Legislature of 1850 confided to the Secretary 
of State, and to the Secretary of the Board of Regents, 
the supervision of the publication of the remainder 
of the Natural History of the State. The geological 



29 

survey having been protracted much beyond the 
period originally contemplated, and various claims 
existing in reference to it, the two officers named 
were required by law to report to the next Legisla- 
ture what those claims were, and what contracts 
existed between the State and individuals for such of 
the work as remained to be completed. They were 
also required to report a plan for the final completion 
of the survey, and to submit estimates of the cost of 
such completion. Dr. Beck's acquaintance with the 
history of this work, and all the matters connected 
with it, was perhaps more complete than that of any 
other person in the State ; and this fact led to the 
selection of the Secretary of the Regents (which 
post he then filled), as one of the Commissioners. 
Whether we look at the interests of the State or 
those of science, no better choice could have been 
made. 

The reports of the Commissioners to the Legisla- 
ture, show the good effects of the investigation made 
by them; and, judging from the order and system 
which the affair soon assumed under their hands, and 
the comparative economy which attended their 
expenditures and plans, it is hazarding little to say, 
that, had a permanent commission of this character 
been charged with the care of the survey from its 
outset, the work would have been more systematically 
pursued, and at an expense greatly less than that 
which the State has incurred. 



30 

Since 1841 he has occupied the office of Secretary 
of the Board of Regents; a position of great honor 
and trust. 

The Regents have a supervisory charge of the 
educational interests of the State, and are required 
to report annually the condition of all the colleges 
and academies under their care. His reports made 
during the period of his incumbency are not only 
voluminous, but they are equally models of accuracy 
and of compactness. 

But the supervision of colleges and of academies 
does by no means limit the powers and responsibili- 
ties of the Regents. To them is entrusted the care 
of the State Library, and of the State Cabinet of 
Natural History, with also the management of much 
of the foreign correspondence, and all of the literary 
or scientific international exchanges. Most of which 
various duties devolved officially upon Dr. Beck. 

To his earnest devotion, and eminent qualifications, 
the State is therefore indebted for its large and judi- 
ciously selected library ; and especially for its unri- 
valled collection of works on the history of this 
country and State. 

In the language of Dr. E. H. Van Deusen, from 
whose brief but elegant biography, written for the 
American Journal of Insanity, I am indebted for 
several of the facts contained in this memoir : 

" Dr. Beck has witnessed the adoption in this State, 
of a public system of education, elementary and 



31 

collegiate, alike thorough and successful ; and as the 
crowning effort in the field of his severest, yet most 
congenial labor, a "State Library" which, for com- 
pleteness of organization and beauty of arrangement, 
stands unrivaled, and for which, it may be remarked, 
the State of New- York is almost entirely indebted 
to his extended and complete knowledge of the his- 
tory of literature and science, in which he had no 
equal in this country, if indeed anywhere." 

Many years ago Dr. Beck became interested in the 
subject of a State Museum. In fact, while connected 
with the City Lyceum, established in the Albany 
Academy, he was industriously accumulating and 
depositing every thing of which he could possess 
himself, relating to history, or to natural science. A 
passion, which, it is well known, did not cease or 
abate, when his admission into the Board of Regents 
gave him a wider field for its exercise. To the State 
Library and the State Cabinet hereafter his time and 
talents were in no small degree directed ; and such 
was his zeal in behalf of these institutions that he 
has not hesitated at times when the illiberal policy 
of individual members of the Legislature, hazarded 
the success of necessary appropriations, to give his 
personal pledge that the moneys should be judiciously 
applied, and by becoming, as it were, the endorser 
of the government, he has seemed the recognition of 
the claims of these interests, and obtained the neces- 
sary supplies. 



32 

On the arrival of M. Vattemare in this country, 
Dr. Beck immediately saw the value of such a system 
of international exchange as was proposed, and 
became at once one of its warmest advocates; nor 
has he ever ceased to urge upon the successive Legis- 
latures the continuance of the system; and even 
upon his death-bed he entreated, as a personal favor, 
that his friends . would not forget the claims of this 
subject, in which he had always felt so deep an inte- 
rest. 

In a letter lately received, M. Vattemare writes — 
" The death of Dr. Beck deprives me of the best and 
most faithful friend I ever had, as well as of the most 
enlightened and active co-operator in the noble cause 
to which my life is devoted. # * # # 
I thought that with my friend all was gone; but 
the recollection of his solicitude for the system of 
exchange, as well as his paternal anxiety for the State 
Library — that glorious monument of his patriotism 
and high knowledge — revived my courage, and with 
it the hope that those kind friends I have yet among 
the Regents of the University, and the recollection 
of the friendship of Dr. Beck for me, and of his asso- 
ciation in my labors, would secure the continuation 
of their good will." 

Outside of his own peculiar sphere of duties, no 
object of public interest was undertaken without 
finding in him a warm supporter. When the project 
of a University in the city of Albany was started, 



33 

intended to supply, in some measure, the scientific 
and literary wants of the whole United States, Dr. 
Beck, while seeing clearly all the difficulties and 
discouragements attending such a scheme, did not 
fail to recognize its practical bearings, and his views, 
as may be seen by a reference to the sketch of his 
speech appended,* were liberal and comprehensive. 

Of the American Association of Science he was an 
active member, and rendered to it many services. 

In obedience to those promptings of humanity 
which seem in a great measure to have determined 
his course in life — laboring always most zealously 
for those who were least able to appreciate his servi- 
ces, or to recognize them — he read before this society 
in 1837, a paper on the statistics of the deaf and 
dumb, which had the effect to direct the attention of 
the public and of the legislators more fully to the 
condition and necessities of this unfortunate class, 
and the results of which may be seen in the estab- 
lishment in the city of New- York of a school for deaf 
mutes, unrivalled in the excellence of its system and 
in the perfection of its details. 

By the act of its incorporation, in April, 1842, Dr. 
Beck was made one of the Board of Managers of the 
New-York State Lunatic Asylum, situated at Utica ; 
and he has been re-appointed by the Governor and 
Senate at the expiration of each successive tri-ennial 
period. Upon the death of Mr. Munson, in 1854, he, 

* See Appendix. 



34 

although a non-resident member, was unanimously 
elected President of the Board. This important 
institution, established and endowed by the State 
upon a scale of almost unparalleled munificence, is 
no doubt indebted largely to Dr. Beck, for his wise 
counsels and efficient personal aid, which he has at 
all times freely contributed. 

Dr. Beck was also an occasional contributor to the 
pages of the American Journal of Insanity, published 
at Utica under the editorial management of Dr. Brig- 
ham, the late principal : and when, upon the death of 
Dr. Brigham, in 1850, the management of the Jour- 
nal fell into the hands of the Board, Dr. Beck was 
chosen its editor, a place which he continued to hold 
"until the close of the last volume, when advancing 
years and more imperative duties compelled him to 
relinquish his editorial connection." 

Of the chief labor of Dr. Beck's life, and of that 
which has made his name illustrious wherever science 
and literature are cultivated, it still remains to speak. 
I allude to his work on "Medical Jurisprudence," and 
which no less reflects honor upon us as Americans, 
upon this city of his adoption, and upon you, gentle- 
men, who were his associates and fellow-members in 
this Society. 

From how early a period in his life the subject of 
this work occupied his attention we may infer from 
the following brief extracts from letters written to 
his uncle, the Rev, J, B, Romeyn. 



35 

The first is dated in 1813: 

" Permit me to press upon you the obtaining of one 
or the other of the French authors on legal medi- 
cine. It has long been a favorite idea with me to 
prepare a work on that subject, and should I be ena- 
bled to procure Fodere or Mahon, my design may be 
completed." 

The second is dated June 30, 1814, and was 
addressed to his uncle at Lisbon, Portugal : 

"As the communication is now open between Great 
Britain and France, you will doubtless be enabled to 
procure the books I wished. Dulan advertised them 
some years since." * * * * * 

On this topic I find ready at my hand nearly all 
that it is necessary to say, in a biographical notice of 
the author, contained in the first volume of an ele- 
gant publication, entitled, "The National Portrait 
Gallery of distinguished Americans," issued at New- 
York in the year 1834, under the auspices of the 
"American Academy of the Fine Arts." 

In 1823, Dr. Beck published his work entitled 
' Elements of Medical Jurisprudence,' in two volumes, 
octavo; which at the time, attracted great attention, 
and has since continued a standard work on the 
subject of which it treats. The science of medical 
jurisprudence is one of great interest and importance. 
It treats of all those questions, in which the testi- 
mony of a medical man may be required before courts 
of justice, and from the nature of many of the ques- 



36 

tions, it is obvious that their discussion requires the 
widest range of medical and scientific knowledge. 
Although deeply studied in Italy, France and Ger- 
many, this science had scarcely attracted any atten- 
tion, either in this country or in England, previous 
to the publication of the work of Dr. Beck. To him 
is certainly due the high credit, not merely of rousing 
public attention to an important and neglected subject, 
but also of presenting a work upon it which will 
probably never be entirely superseded. In foreign 
countries, its merits have been duly appreciated and 
magnanimously acknowledged. The Edinburg Medi- 
cal and Surgical Journal says of it, vol. 22, p. 179, 
(1824,): 

"We undertake this task with the greater pleasure 
on the present occasion, that we shall have to throw 
aside, for the first time on medico-legal subjects, the 
character of the austere critic. It has been our 
misfortune to handle with some freedom, almost all 
previous works on the subject. And we have been 
induced to handle them more freely than many may 
have thought was called for, because we apprehend 
that all early works on medical jurisprudence, espe- 
cially of the systematic kind, should be viewed with 
peculiar jealousy by every one interested in its pro- 
gress. For as it is now circumstanced, languishing 
still in its infancy, and struggling against the supine- 
ness, indifference and prejudices of those who ought 
to be its most zealous protectors ; no greater mischief 



■61 

could happen than that systematic treatises on it 
should pass without warning into the hands of the 
public, which, however meritorious, are nevertheless, 
not on a level with its state of advancement, and do 
not present an expanded view of its general spirit 
and practical applications. 

"At length, however, the English language may 
boast, that it is possessed of a general work on medical 
jurisprudence, which will not only stand comparison 
with the best of the kind that the continent has 
produced, but which may also be referred to by every 
medical jurist as a monument worthy of his science, 
and as a criterion by which he is willing that its 
interest and utility should be tried. 

"Under the unassuming title of Elements of Medi- 
cal Jurisprudence, Doctor Beck has presented us with 
a comprehensive system, which embraces almost 
every valuable fact or doctrine relating to it. Each 
of its diversified departments has been investigated 
so minutely, that few cases can occur in practice, on 
Avhich it will be necessary to seek elsewhere for 
farther information. At the same time by studying 
succinctness and shunning those verbose oratorical 
details with which other writers, and particularly 
those of France abound, he has succeeded in render- 
ing his treatise comprehensive within a singularly 
moderate compass. We may securely assert, that a 
work on the subject is not to be found in any lan- 
guage, which displays so much patient and discrimi- 



38 

nating research, with so little of the mere ostentation 
of learning. The opinions expressed both on general 
principles and on the particular questions which have 
occurred in courts of law, are given clearly and 
judiciously. There are few occasions, even where 
the points at issue are difficult and obscure, on which 
persons of skill and experience will be disposed to 
differ materially with him." 

In the various medical colleges of Great Britain, 
there has been, we believe, no text book on medical 
jurisprudence positively adopted; but we have been 
informed that Dr. Beck's work has been for years 
recommended to students by professors. 

In 1828, it was translated into German, at Weimar, 
and has been favorably received in various parts of 
the continent of Europe. 

It is not alone the physician and the jurist who are 
indebted to Dr. Beck for this essential work ; but it 
has proved to the general reader, we believe invaria- 
bly, a fund of interesting information ; and we will 
venture to say that no one has ever risen from its 
perusal without experiencing an agreeable surprise, 
that a subject so uninviting in its title, should afford 
so much amusement. The remarks of a writer in 
Blackwood's Magazine agree so well with our own 
experience, that we cannot do better than adopt them. 
"The ignorant state in which jurymen continually 
come to the consideration of points of medical evi- 
dence, on criminal trials, is lamentable. In regard 



39 

to men of any habits of reading it is really sinful ; 
and certainly not the less so, because the works 
which they ought to read and master happen to be 
about the most interesting and amusing books in the 
world." 

To these testimonials we will only add, that the 
work has already passed through five American, and 
four London, besides the German edition. In the 
preface to the first London edition which was pub- 
lished as early as 1825, with notes, by Dr. Wm. 
Dunlap, the editor says : 

"We do not claim for the present work the meed 
of a faultless performance, but we fear not to chal- 
lenge a comparison of it with any of the English 
works in scientific accuracy, philosophical plainness 
and precision of style, extent of research, genuine 
scholarship and erudition, pointedness of illustration, 
and copiousness of detail and reference to original 
documents." 

Says a bibliographer, in a notice of the German 
edition, "Among the numerous and unequivocal evi- 
dences of the very high estimation in which Dr. 
Beck's < Elements of Jurisprudence' are held by the 
profession in Europe, their translation into the Ger- 
man language must be regarded as the most flattering 
and decisive indication of their true value. In no 
country has this interesting and varied science been 
prosecuted with such unabated zeal, or have so much 
learning; and research been elicited on its several 



40 

curious topics, as in Germany. From the time of 
Zachias, indeed, to the present day it has been the 
favorite object of study with German physicians, and 
their opinions of the merits of any treatise on the 
subject are therefore entitled to the highest weight 
and the most respectful consideration. Proud are we, 
therefore, to see them prize the performance of our 
learned countryman so high as to deem it worthy of 
transfusion into their vernacular tongue. In his 
native language his work is as yet without a parallel." 

Although the two volumes originally comprised 
more than 2000 pages octavo, yet to each successive 
American edition he did not fail to add largely from 
his apparently inexhaustible stores of knowledge and 
research. Nor even here did his labors cease, but he 
continued to contribute almost to the period of his 
death to one or more of the medical or scientific 
journals of the country, such additional facts or dis- 
coveries as from time to time came to his knowledge. 
In the American Journal of Medical Science, edited 
by Dr. Hays, may be found many of his most valua- 
ble papers. 

Says a distinguished writer for that periodical, in 
reviewing the tenth edition of his Medical Jurispru- 
dence : " The pages of this journal, for many years 
past, have borne constant evidence of the untiring 
and invaluable research of Dr. Beck, whose observa- 
tions and extracts from foreign and domestic sources 
have filled that portion of it devoted to medical 



41 

jurisprudence ; and the writer of the present notice 
bears his testimony to the same effect; for, having 
taken much interest in the subject, and consequently 
had occasion to examine the journals, he found it 
impossible to furnish a single novelty to this depart- 
ment in which he had not been anticipated by Dr. 
Beck." 

Nor is there perhaps, any testimony more pertinent 
as to the rank occupied by Dr. Beck in the literary 
and scientific world, than the large number of socie- 
ties, both abroad and at home, which conferred upon 
him either honorary or active memberships. Among 
others less known we may mention the New- York 
Historical Society, of which he was elected a member 
in 1813; Physico Medical Society, N. Y., 1813; 
Antiquarian Soc, Mass., 1816 ; Academy of Natural 
Sciences, Philadelphia, 1816; Lyceum of Natural 
History, N. Y., 1817; American Geological Society, 
New-Haven, 1819; Natural Hist. Soc, Montreal, 
1821; Hon. member of Med. Soc, London, 1824; 
Medical Society, Quebec, 1824; Cor. member Lin- 
nean Soc, Paris, 1826; Hon. member Med. Soc, 
Conn., 1826 ; Society of Emulation, Charleston, S. 
C, 1827; Med. Soc. of New-Hampshire, 1828; Asso- 
ciate of the College of Phys., Philadelphia, 1829; 
Hon. member of Royal Med. Soc. of Edinburgh, 1832 ; 
of Meteorological Society, London, 1838; of Ameri- 
can Philosophical Society, Philadelphia, 1839; of 

Med. Soc. of Rhode Island, 1839; National Institu- 
6 



42 

tion for the promotion of science, Washington, 1840 ; 
Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 1841; Amer. 
Ethnological Soc. 1842; Northern Academy of Arts 
and Sciences, Dartmouth, 1845; Cor. fellow of New- 
York Academy of Medicine, 1847; Royal Society of 
Northern Antiquaries, Copenhagen, 1848 ; Histor. 
Soc, Vermont, 1850; American Statistical Soc, 
Boston, 1851; State Historical Society, Wisconsin, 
1854. The degree of LL. D. has been conferred upon 
him by the Mercersburg College, Penn., and by Hut- 
gers College, N. J. 

Dr. Beck enjoyed during his life, almost uninter- 
rupted health, the result, we suspect, of a good natural 
constitution, and of temperate, regular, and, so far at 
least as his literary pursuits would permit, active 
habits. 

The following account of his last illness and of the 
autopsy , # is too interesting to admit of abridgement, 
and I shall make no apology for its introduction. It 
was furnished at my request by his attending physi- 
cian, Dr. S. D. Willard, of this city, who visited him 
from the earliest stage of his illness, and whose 
personal care and devotion, as well as that of Dr. 
Hun, who was called in counsel, toward the close of 
his life, was most faithful, unremitting, and far exceed- 
ing all claims of professional duty. 

"Dr. Beck suffered from an attack of indigestion 
in the early part of January, 1854. It was at a time 

* See Appendix. 



43 

when he was busily engaged in his official duties, 
and although he placed himself under medical treat- 
ment, and was visited twice daily by his physician, 
he did not allow himself, as I remember, to be deter- 
red from going to his office for a single day. He 
recovered from this attack in two weeks, and with 
the exception of a slight paroxysm of gout, he enjoyed 
nearly his usual health during the remainder of the 
year. 

In February, 1855, he was again taken ill, and the 
symptoms with which his illness began were precisely 
similar to those of the year previous. The weather 
was intensely cold, and he was induced on account 
of it to remain at home for a few days, though he 
was quite unwilling to admit the necessity of such 
regimen. The symptoms did not yield as readily as 
they had done before ; he experienced great uneasi- 
ness about the stomach and bowels ; his appetite not 
only failed, but he felt nausea at the very mention of 
either food or medicine ; he complained greatly of 
weakness, but was almost invariably invigorated by 
his sleep at night. He was so much better at the 
end of a fortnight as to go out, and this he continued 
to do nearly every day, utterly regardless of the 
weather, and appeared to be daily gaining strength 
until the last of March, when the symptoms returned 
upon him, as violent as they had been at first; but 
they again yielded after a week or ten days, and with 
the exception of his not having regained his strength, 



44 

he appeared for a little time nearly recovered. We 
looked forward to the return of mild weather with 
confident expectation that his health would be 
restored. During the month of May he was daily at 
his office, and continued his labors and researches 
with his accustomed untiring industry. About the 
first of June he visited his daughter, Mrs. Van Cort- 
landt, at Croton, and while there he had a recurrence 
of some of his unpleasant symptoms, though they 
were less severe than in preceding attacks. His visit 
at Croton was brief, and he returned again to pursue 
his labors beyond the measure of his strength. At 
length he yielded to the solicitations of his friends 
to make his summer visit to Lake George a few weeks 
earlier than usual, and this in the belief that total 
relaxation would prove of the desired benefit to him. 
Here, however, he indulged less in the social plea- 
sures and rural sports than had for many years been 
his practice. Occasionally he went out on the lake 
for fish, and once he joined a party that had arranged 
to dine on a rock about five miles down the lake. 
He went and returned in a row boat, and though 
much fatigued, bore the exertion better than could 
have been expected. [August 29.] His very nature 
gave him a keen relish for such pleasures, but he now 
united in them with reluctance. He became averse 
to exercise, and much of the time was passed with 
his friends on the piazza of the hotel, or in his own 
room, re-perusing some favorite volume. Scarcely a 






45 

week passed without the return of some of his annoy- 
ing symptoms, and notwithstanding he thought him- 
self getting better, he was becoming weaker and 
losing flesh. He returned from Lake George on the 
7th September. His journey home greatly fatigued 
him, and he found himself obliged to send for his 
physician the next day. Medication almost uni- 
formly brought him present relief, but it did not serve 
to eradicate the morbid condition to which his system 
had become subjected. He continued to go to the 
State Library until the 15th of September, when he 
left it for the last time. 

Until the present there was, to my mind, no posi- 
tive indications of other than functional derangement 
in his case. He was very weak, and had not only 
lost his full, portly habit, but had become greatly 
emaciated. His appetite, at times, was good, but not 
uniformly so. The food he took did not appear to 
assimilate with and nourish his body, although it was 
generally well digested. He retired early, slept 
quietly, and maintained his fixed habit of rising at 
five or six o'clock in the morning. He had not, thus 
far, suffered any severe pain during the progress of 
his illness ; the recurrence of nausea gave him great 
uneasiness, and he complained likewise of lassitude 
and debility, but not of pain. 

For several years he had, at times, been afflicted 
with paroxysms of dyspnoea, and he assured me that 
the pulsations of his heart had " always been irregu- 



46 

lar." Since he had become so feeble, these had 
increased to such an extent as to indicate that they 
were occasioned by disease of the heart — but they 
lacked essentially some of the peculiarities which 
would be expected in advanced disease of that organ. 

It was at this time that Dr. Hun, who had seen 
him at intervals while visiting other members of the 
family, united with me in regular attendance. So 
great a change had taken place in his appearance, 
that it now became manifest that the disease was 
making rapid inroads upon his remaining strength, 
and was advancing to a fatal termination. 

The doctor consented to remain quiet for a few 
days ; it was without a realization of his own feeble- 
ness. He consented, not because he admitted the 
necessity of quietude, but because his physicians 
positively enjoined it. He still looked forward, one 
week after another, to the time when he should be 
able to resume his duties, and appointed several days 
when he hoped to go out; but, when the time came, 
he felt that his strength was insufficient to the effort, 
and consented readily to abide the advice of his 
attendants and friends. 

During these weeks of confinement, he was uni- 
formly cheerful, and looked on the bright side of his 
own case. He seldom complained of pain, and was 
rather unwilling to admit that he suffered any. He 
rarely inquired particularly about the nature of his 
disease, nor did he evince anxiety about the manner 



47 

in which it might terminate. Thus he continued 
until late in October, when, upon the suggestion of 
his daughters, he consented to an arrangement for a 
consultation with Dr. Willard Parker, of New- York, 
who had been the physician of his brother, Dr. John 
B. Beck, and who is likewise a warm personal friend 
of the family. 

The evening before Dr. Parker came (October 24), 
he spoke more freely of himself than he had pre- 
viously done. It was conclusive to me then, that the 
character of his malady had not escaped his own 
careful observation. He said to me: "I don't alto- 
gether give up my own case yet, but I have lived 
long enough to wear out my constitution — and, 
whatever is the result, I must be content." These 
were the first words indicating that he regarded his 
condition critical. The next morning he was visited 
by Dr. Parker, together with Dr. Hun and myself. 
He received us with great composure and cheerful- 
ness, and made a clear, full statement of his case, 
speaking of himself as if he was not the person 
interested in the examination. 

After the consultation, we returned to his room, 
and Dr. Parker taking his seat by him kindly said, 
"Now Doctor we have asked you a great many ques- 
tions, are there any you would like to ask us?" His 
reply was strictly characteristic of himself as a man 
of few words. He did not seek to evade the result of 
this investigation, but arrived at once at the conclu- 



48 

sion, by a single question that covered the whole 
subject, "can you get me well?-' Dr. Parker told 
him that we were unable to detect organic disease, 
but there was a suspension in the process of assimi- 
lation, his food digested but did not assimilate, "the 
engine," said he, "you have, but the fuel fails to 
make it work." Again he asked " can you get in fuel 
that will ?" The answers to these pointed enquiries 
were necessarily of a negative character; to which 
he replied, "You make out my case very unfavora- 
bly." In the afternoon of the same day, I found him 
cheerful, without having been fatigued by the morn- 
ing interview, and he expressed some confidence in 
the efficacy of the nitro-muriatic acid sponge bath 
which was suggested by Dr. Parker. 

Until the 11th November no special change occur- 
red ; he slept more than usual, and at night comforta- 
bly, awaking at his accustomed hour in the morning ; 
he sat up nearly every day for a short time, and often 
devoted a part of this to business; his books and his 
papers were around him, and he still devoted himself 
to them with untiring industry ; although he was sick, 
he did not know how to be idle. I visited him at all 
hours, and I always found him with a book in his 
hand ; when he retired at night, it was with lights 
arranged by his bedside that he might read until he 
fell asleep. 

With the first loss of sleep, (Nov. 11,) came total 
prostration, he was unable longer to take nourishment, 



49 

and soon began what appeared to be the process of 
dying ; of this he was fully aware, yet no murmur 
escaped his lips, nor the wish that the termination 
might be averted. (Nov. 14.) His breathing became 
gradually more difficult, and his extremities cold, he 
was exceedingly restless, but uniformly answered 
"no" when asked if he was suffering. Each hour 
appeared for two or three days to be his last, but he 
rallied again however, and remarked of the wonder- 
ful tenacity of his constitution, and expressed surprise 
that he lived so long. " It is hard breaking the chain," 
and then he asked "Is not this a long struggle?" 
"How long have I been in it?" To my reply "more 
than twenty-four hours," he asked, "do you think it 
will last much longer?" Addressing his daughters, 
who were by his bedside, he said "I had a coldness, 
a sort of spasm in my side last night, that was near 
my idea of the coming on of death ; I have thought 
my case over, it is a remarkable complaint, don't you 
all think so ?" And at the same time he expressed 
his conviction that he must have organic disease. 

At another time, when he thought his daughters 
greatly fatigued by prolonged attention to him, gazing 
upon them with paternal tenderness, he said, "I am 
sorry to tire you so; I wish it was over." Thus, in 
his last hours, he did not fail to regard the comfort of 
others before himself. His hearing continued acute, 
and his mind clear and calm through those hours of 
protracted dissolution, although he was so weak that 



50 

he could not converse. Thus he lingered until the 
morning of the 19th. A few hours preceding his 
death, Mrs. Parmelee was sitting by his side, when 
he asked, "Where is Catharine?" (Mrs. Yan Cort- 
landt); immediately she was with him. He pressed 
her hand in token of recognition, gazed upon them 
for a moment, and then closed his eyes forever. His 
breathing became quiet, fainter, and still more faint, 
until at length, gently as sleeps a child, the slumber 
of death came upon him. And thus passed away 
this great man, on the 19th of November, 1855, at 
the age of sixty-four years and three months. Mr. 
and Mrs. Parmelee, Mrs. Yan Cortlandt and myself, 
were with him when he died. 

During the whole period of his illness, his daugh- 
ters watched him with the utmost filial devotion and 
tenderness. They were almost constantly with him, 
anticipating every want, and administering every 
comfort. His last hours were not only soothed by 
their presence, their words of kindness and love, but 
by their earnest prayers that he might be sustained 
by his Heavenly Father in the eventful hour that 
still awaited him. 

To the inquiry, so natural to one who reflects upon 
the life and labors of our deceased associate, " How 
has any man been able to accomplish so much in a 
single life?" The reply is, — it was the result of 
system, indomitable perseverance, of ardent devotion 
and honesty of purpose, united to excellent talents. 






51. 

But no one quality so much contributed to his extra- 
ordinary attainments as that methodical improvement 
of time which he adopted from the first and retained 
to almost the last hours of his life. Every duty had 
its time and place, with which no other duties were 
allowed to interfere. A given portion of each day 
was assigned to a particular subject, and this arrange- 
ment was not to be interfered with. The morning 
study was never postponed to the evening, nor relax- 
ation nor miscellaneous reading permitted until the 
allotted tasks were respectively dispatched. Having 
determined also upon any great purpose it was never 
relinquished until it was accomplished. With him 
there was no vacillation or uncertainty of design ; 
and at his death nothing seems to have been left 
unfinished, but that one labor which he had underta- 
ken, too late for its full completion, a memoir of his 
early friend and counsellor, the lamented DeWitt 
Clinton. A work for which his long and intimate 
acquaintance, his sympathy of feelings and tastes, 
with his rare literary attainments eminently qualified 
him. 

They were alike men of talents, education, system 
and perseverance : each labored for the public good 
rather than for private interest: each entertained 
enlarged and almost prophetic views of State and 
National policy ; each selected judiciously the time 
and means for the attainment of their great purposes. 



52 

DeWitt Clinton was a statesman, but no less a 
philosopher and a patriot. T. Romeyn Beck was a 
physician, but no less a scholar and a philanthropist. 
De Witt Clinton sought to penetrate the State with 
the commerce of the world, and to develop by this 
means also its agricultural resources. Beck sought 
to determine its mineral wealth, and thus to encour- 
age its manufactories, with which both agriculture 
and commerce are mutually allied. Operating in 
different channels, their ends and aims were the same, 
and it would be difficult to say to whom the citizens 
of this prosperous State owe the most, to the illus- 
trious statesman, or to the no less illustrious physi- 
cian. 

No one will deny the comparison, which neither 
detracts from the merits of the one, nor exalts invidi- 
ously the claims of the other. 

More than two years ago, at the earnest solicitation 
of the Clinton family, Dr. Beck had consented to 
write his life, and was furnished with the large and 
valuable collection of papers belonging to the family. 
He had already made some progress in arranging and 
digesting these materials when disease arrested the 
prosecution of a work, which, there is reason to 
believe, would have been such a biography as the 
illustrious statesman deserved, and such, probably, as 
none but Dr. Beck, who had so long shared his inti- 
macy and confidence, could have written. 



53 

In his domestic relations, Dr. Beck was kind and 
affectionate. I hesitate, even in a biographical me- 
moir, to invade the sanctity of private life; but I 
must yield to an impulse which instructs me to value 
the example of a pure and unsullied character in its 
relations to home and to the social circle. 

To his wife, who died in 1823, at the early age of 
31 years, a woman of rare accomplishments and of 
refined sentiments, he was devotedly attached ; and 
I am told that the greater part of his work on Medi- 
cal Jurisprudence was written while watching at her 
bedside during her last and painfully protracted 
illness — a most touching memorial to her virtues and 
to the kindness of his own heart. 

Of his brothers, he was the oldest; and although 
accustomed always to exercise over them a kind of 
paternal care, he was singularly attached to them; 
and when, one after another, they died, until he alone 
was left, he has seemed to suffer the most poignant 
grief; and especially did the death of his last and 
youngest brother — the late Lewis C. Beck — with 
whom his associations and his pursuits were the most 
constant, fall heavily upon him. 

His mother — that venerated woman, who herself 
had watched over his infancy, and guided him care- 
fully through his youth, up to manhood — found under 
his roof a welcome shelter in her declining years, 
where at all times her wants were more than supplied, 
and her counsels and precepts were reverentially 



54 

respected. Brought up under her father's care, her 
education was solid and judicious, and, until the last 
three or four years of her life, when her mind gave 
way, she preserved her interest in all literary pur- 
suits. She lived to see all her children attain emi- 
nence and respectability, and died at last at the 
advanced age of 85 years. 

Dr. Beck had no sons. His two daughters, Catha- 
rine, wife of Pierre Yan Cortlandt, Esq., of West- 
chester, and Helen, wife of Hon. William Parmelee, 
of Albany, still live to attest his inestimable worth 
and to exemplify his virtues. 

In the presence of strangers, Dr. Beck was some- 
what reserved, and not unfrequently seemed unsocial ; 
but with his more intimate acquaintances he was 
remarkably free, affable, and unrestrained; and 
through all his familiar social conversations there was 
a rich vein of humor mingling with the profounder 
currents of thought and discussion. 

His knowledge of books was not confined to scien- 
tific treatises. He read most of the standard works 
in history, romance, poetry, and in all departments 
of light literature. He read rapidly, and soon pos- 
sessed himself of the meaning or value of any author ; 
which faculty, united to a retentive memory, made 
him almost the final umpire wherever questions of 
text or of authority arose. In the language of one 
who knew him intimately, and who had been a co- 
laborer with him in the establishment of the State 



55 

Library, "His knowledge of what I would call the 
science of literature, I have never seen equalled." 

He was liberal to the poor, and kind to all. Not 
even the brutes escaped his sympathy. Cruelty to 
animals excited in him always the most intense 
disapprobation. 

His belief in the divine revelation, and in its doc- 
trines, as held by the great body of Protestant Chris- 
tians, was firm, decided and often expressed ; and he 
could never tolerate any attempts on the part of any 
person to impugn or to throw discredit upon them. 

In conclusion, I beg to repeat the language and 
judgment of a well known gentleman who had spent 
several summers in his society at Lake George, Mr. 
George Ticknor, of Boston. In a letter written 
during the illness of Dr. Beck, he says: "I have 
known few men of so faithful a nature as he was, and 
still fewer in whom, on a more continuous acquaint- 
ance, I have been so much interested. The amount 
of his knowledge, and the eagerness with which he 
pursues it, are remarkable ; but not more so than the 
excellent use to which he puts it all." 

Also, of an intimate personal friend, the Rev. Dr. 
J. N. Campbell, of Albany, who was his pastor for 
some years and his associate as a member of the 
Board of Regents : " I think that the secret of that 
respect and regard which Dr. Beck had acquired in 
the community, and which he enjoyed in a measure 



56 



rarely attained by any man, is to be found in his 
industry and disinterestedness, and these were promi- 
nent features in his character. He was the most 
laborious man I ever knew. He never lost a minute, 
and we all know how much he accomplished ; yet he 
never appeared in anything he did to be seeking to 
acquire position or honor for himself — and I have 
repeatedly remaked that, in speaking of the results 
of his labors, he was always careful to give all the 
credit to his associates and to claim nothing for him- 
self." # # * "He was a remarkably pure minded 
man — of true honor, above all meanness, and of the 
sternest integrity.'- 

It has been my desire, gentlemen, to present you 
with an impartial history of our deceased associate, 
in which his services should not on the one hand be 
undervalued, nor on the other magnified into undue 
importance. I have sought to be brief, and yet to 
omit nothing which posterity might some time wish 
to know of that man whose cotemporaries have every 
where greeted him with such sentiments of applause, 
and whose name will hereafter reflect so much honor 
upon our age and country. 

Upon you, gentlemen, new duties now devolve. 
The burdens of those who fall must be divided equally 
among those who remain, in order that the great 
work of the advancement of human knowledge may 
not be delayed. To each must be assigned a share — ■ 



57 

and they must see to it that the night does not over- 
take them before their allotted task is done, and they 
" steal inglorious to the silent grave." 

It was not so with him whose last rites we have 
now performed. And as we deposit the urn in which 
we have thus carefully gathered his consecrated ashes, 
let us carry away with us some of those sacred fires 
which gave inspiration to his genius, and which still 
continue to shed a halo of light around his tomb. For 

:t Lives of great men all remind us 
We may make our lives sublime, 
And departing, leave behind us, 
Foot -prints on the sands of time." 



APPENDIX. 



AUTOPSY OP DR. T. ROMEYN BECK. 

[Furnished by Dr. Willard.] 

Present — Drs. Jas. McNaughton, March, Armsby, 
H. Townsend, Boyd, Cogswell, Hun and Willard. 

The examination was held November 20, twenty- 
nine hours after death. 

The lungs were healthy. 

The heart was large, measuring from the apex, 
transversely, seven inches. There was, in patches, 
on the surface of the heart, especially near the pos- 
terior surface, near the origin of the blood vessels, a 
soft fibrinous deposit, which was easily rubbed off. 
The walls of the left ventricle were from an inch to 
an inch and one-eighth in thickness. The aortic 
valves were thick and opaque. There was slight 
calcareous deposit on the mitral valve, with thicken- 
ing and induration. 

The coronary arteries were ossified. 

The hepatic artery was thickened and indurated. 

The liver was congested and healthy, excepting 
the ramifications of the hepatic artery ; these were 
indurated. 



59 

The stomach. — The mucous membrane of the stom- 
ach was of a greyish color, except at the posterior 
part, where it was congested, and lined with a bloody 
mucus. 

There was thickening and induration of the pyloric 
orifice. 

The kidneys were somewhat shrivelled on the sur- 
face, but the texture was healthy. 

The most remarkable appearance was the extreme 
emaciation. In health Dr. Beck weighed two hun- 
dred and ten pounds; at the time of his death he 
weighed not over one hundred pounds, and possibly 
not over ninety. He was fat, not muscular. Here 
then is a loss of one hundred and ten pounds cer- 
tainly, and possibly one hundred and twenty pounds ! 
[The change in his personal appearance was so great 
by this loss that his most intimate friends and col- 
leagues could not recognise in his features any thing 
to remind them of Dr. Beck.] 

The progress of his illness was from February, 
1855.^ The heart was evidently in a state of hyper- 
trophy, but the immediate cause of his death was 

DEFECT IN HIS POWER TO ASSIMILATE. 



* Period of illness 9£ months, though confined to the house only nine weeks. 

Note— Dr. Lewis C. Beck died in a similar manner He was a spare man, and having no 
fat lo consume, his illness continued only a few weeks. Dr. T. Romeyn lived until he had 
consumed over one hundred pounds. 

Dr. Parker informed me that the arleries in Dr. John B. Beck were ossified (those in the 
trunk) ; he compared them to macaroni. A similar condition had, to some extent, taken place 
in Dr. T. R Beck. 



60 

The annexd is a list of offices which he filled, and socie- 
ties to which he was elected, etc. 

Alms House Physician, Albany, •• 1811 

Fellow of the College of Phys. and Surg., N. Y., 1811 

Medical Society, State of New-York, 1813 

New- York Historical Society, New- York, • • • • 1813 
Member of Physico-Medical Society, New- York, 1815 

Trustee of the Albany Academy, • 1815 

Professor of the Institutes of Med., Fairfield, • • 1815 
Hon. Mem. of Academy of Nat. Sciences, Phila., 1816 
Receiving Officer of Antiquarian Society, Mass., 1816 
Hon. Mem. Lyceum of Natural History, N. Y., 1817 
Hon. Mem. Amer. Geolog. Soc, New-Haven,- ■ 1819 

Hon. Mem. Medical Society, London, 1824 

Hon. Mem. Medical Society, Quebec, 1824 

Corresponding Member Linnean Society, Paris, 1826 
Hon. Mem. Medical Society, Connecticut, • • • • 1826 

Hon. Mem. Nat. Hist. Society, Montreal, 1827 

Senior Hon. Mem. Med. Soc. of Emulation of 

Charleston, 1827 

Hon. Mem. Med. Soc. of New-Hampshire, • • • • 1828 
Associate of the College of Physicians, Phila., 1829 

Hon. Mem. of the Ithaca Lyceum,* 1830 

Hon. Mem. of the West Point Lyceum, 1830 

Mem. Albany County Agricultural Society, • • • 1830 
Hon. Mem. Royal Medical Society, Edinburgh, 1832 

Philosophical Society, Rutgers College, 1833 

Prof. Materia Medica and Med. Juris., Fairfield, 1836 
Hon. Mem. Meteorological Society, London,* • • 1838 



61 

Hon. Mem. Amer. Philosophical Society, Phila., 1839 
Hon. Mem. Medical Society, Rhode Island,. • ■ 1839 
Hon. Mem. Nat. Institution for Promotion Sci- 
ence, Wash., 1840 

Hon. Mem. Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 1841 

Hon. Mem. Amer. Ethnological Society, N. Y., 1842 
Hon. Mem. North. Acad. Arts and Sciences, 

Dartmouth, 1843 

Corresponding Fellow of N. Y. Acad, of Med., 1847 

Degree of LL.D., Mercersburg, Pa., 1849 

Degree of LL.D., Rutgers Col., New-Brunswick. 

President of Albany Institute. 

Royal Soc. of North. Antiquarians, Copenhagen, 1843 

Hon. Mem. Historical Society, Vermont, 1850 

Hon. Mem. American Statistical Soc, Boston,- 1851 

Hon. Mem. State Historical Society, Wisconsin, 1854 
Trustee State Lunatic Asylum and President 

Board of Trustees. 

Pres. of the Board of Trustees Albany Acad.,- 1852 
Mem. Executive Com. of the Normal School. 

Emeritus-Professor Albany Medical College,- • 1854 



62 



UNIVERSITY OF ALBANY. 

Remarks of Dr. T. Romeyn Beck, on the proposed esta- 
blishment of a University, made in the Capitol before 
the Literary Convention and the Legislature, March 
30, 1854. 

I beg to say that the plan presented by our respected 
president, is one which meets my hearty approbation. 
It includes very many of the subjects required to be 
taught in the proposed University — all of them are 
more or less imperatively called for by the wants of 
the times and of the country. If the objects set 
forth are not immediately accomplished, as for a few 
years can scarcely be expected, still the necessity 
will become more and more apparent. 

I have, however, been accustomed of late, to look 
at this matter in a somewhat different point of view. 
The remark has been frequently made, and I have 
not been insensible to its bearing, that the proposed 
new institution will, even if successful, be only 
another college added to the too many already in 
operation. We must endeavor to avoid this. We 
must also, especially, take care that in anything now 
to be done, we do not run counter to the system of 
instruction at present existing. I lay it down as a 
settled proposition, that the present course of instruc- 
tion in the various States of the Union, from common 
schools up to schools of law, divinity and medicine, 
is a good one. It may have defects which require 



63 

amendment, but not its destruction. In all that we 
do, we should look to its stability. We shall lose 
every thing by undermining or endeavoring to sup- 
plant it. All who were at all conversant with the 
system of education in our own State, forty years 
ago, will fully appreciate the improvements that have 
been made, and they have a right to imagine an 
onward and forward course hereafter. The want of 
a sufficient complement of competent teachers in our 
common schools, academies and colleges, although 
manifest at the period referred to, is rapidly being 
supplied. An University in this country, on the 
broad, liberal and enlightened policy, that has been 
foreshadowed, would be a mighty agent in meeting 
such deficiencies. 

The first practical question then, is, whether a 
University in the most extended sense of the term is 
needed ? I answer emphatically that it is. And for 
this purpose, we need a co-operation of feeling and 
interest, not so much for expensive buildings and 
broad lands, as for supplying the museums, apparatus 
and other appliances that may be necessary for expla- 
nation and elucidation. Above all and first of all, 
we want eminent professors, accomplished in their 
respective branches of knowledge, and lastly, we need 
students to attend them. 

What shall be the system of instruction ? Are the 
Latin and Greek languages to be taught ? Certainly 
not, in the ordinary sense of the term. We have 



64 

already in this State alone, some one hundred and 
sixty academies, and some seven or eight colleges, 
in which the study of these is pursued. And if the 
teachers he competent, we do not need an University 
for that purpose. 

But it is very desirable to have a professor, or pro- 
fessors, who are perfect masters of those languages, 
intimately acquainted with all the authors of each ; 
in one word, capable of fully illustrating the litera- 
ture of both. Such men are not easily obtained. 
They in a great degree make themselves in any coun- 
try. They are known by their works. 

You cannot expect that they will be attended by 
large classes, and this renders it the more imperative 
to endow professorships for them. Even in the most 
favorable event, the number to be instructed will be 
few. What is now the mode of preparation for such 
an office? The individual goes to Europe — to Ger- 
many. 

Even if we establish such professorships, it may 
still be highly proper for their incumbents to visit 
foreign countries. But I look forward to the time 
when this may not be absolutely required. We owe 
something on the score of national character, to take 
part in and foster this higher instruction — to form 
men among ourselves, who shall be equally learned 
and as fully prepared to instruct in this as the most 
renowned of other countries. 









65 

Dr. Beck here alluded to a fact mentioned by the 
Rev. Dr. Robinson, in his papers on University edu- 
cation in Germany. At one of these institutions, a 
teacher in a branch of classical literature, had but a 
single auditor, and still this person was so devoted to 
his profession and the cause of learning, that he 
was as untiring in his lectures, as those with large 
classes. 

The same remarks will, in a great degree, apply to 
the study of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy. 
These branches of knowledge are now largely and 
extensively taught. We have most able professors 
in many of our colleges — but still it is impossible to 
do full justice to them in a sub-graduate course. 

We require persons to expound their application to 
the useful arts and the ordinary purposes of life. 
Civil engineering, for example, should be taught on 
an extended scale and with larger appliances. How 
much of the comfort, safety and life of the travelling 
community is dependent on the proper care and 
management of railroads and steamboats? How 
many accidents upon both are occasioned by want of 
knowledge, and hence imperfect structure. How 
much mischief results from an ignorance of, or incom- 
plete acquaintance with first principles? What 
grievous destruction originates from a want of study 
of the metal that forms so material an instrument in 
the architecture of both. To some of my hearers, 

the great improvement produced by the introduction 
9 



66 

of the hot blast must be familiar. Indeed I know 
of no subject in the physical sciences that better 
deserves the establishment of an independent pro- 
fessorship than that of Iron, its chemical characters, 
its manufacture and its application. 

Then as to the engineers. They are frequently 
more rapidly promoted to that position, than the 
knowledge of the duties they are to perform will 
warrant. Therefore, means should be afforded to 
them for enlarging and increasing that knowledge. 
I consider this subject as most worthy of reflection, 
eminently deserving of careful attention and conside- 
ration. It is vitally connected with the safety of the 
community, and without its proper appreciation, the 
casualties and accidents that have already occurred 
will not be diminished. 

But along with these needs and fully and readily 
conceding that many departments of useful and ele- 
gant literature and moral science should find a place 
in the proposed University, there still remains many 
specific wants, which could readily be made subjects 
of successful investigation, if fostered by public or 
private beneficence. For example: we need profes- 
sors of Natural History, both in its enlarged sense, 
and in its numerous and important subdivisions. 
This is a wide subject, embracing a broad field of 
investigation, and daily requiring more and more 
studious application, on account of the branches of 
science that are constantly brought to bear on its 



67 

proper elucidation. Look at the most recent one, 
that is now becoming a subject of great popular inte- 
rest, viz., Microscopy. It is already successfully 
applied to the development of the intimate structure 
of man and of the inferior animals. 

We want a professor of Physical Geography and 
Meteorology. This is peculiarly called for, on account 
of the important bearing of the latter subject on the 
safety of Navigation. It has been asserted of late 
years, that a ship can outride a storm. Certainly we 
know, that if the barometer was generally studied, 
many dangers might be avoided. What higher object 
can be proposed to a man of science, than to develope 
and arrange the many results that even now could be 
collected from the great mass of facts already accu- 
mulated. We need a professor of the General Health, 
or as it is also styled of Public Hygiene. This subject 
is the particular care of several of the governments 
of Europe. France, Holland, Belgium, and latterly 
the English government has given considerable atten- 
tion to it. The construction of buildings in towns 
and cities — the condition of the sewerage — the 
number of persons that should be allowed to inhabit 
a tenement — the nature of the water that is used — 
the adaptation of proper means for analysing it — the 
allowance or disallowance of various kinds of manu- 
factories — the construction of public baths — all these 
are but items of the great subject lying so closely at 



68 



Le foundation and preservation of the health and 
prosperity of a community. 

Nor let those, who reside in the country suppose 
that such an appointment is not needed by them. 
How often do epidemic or endemic diseases occur 
there, and frequently from slight and unnoticed causes, 
that only require scientific investigation to avoid or 
to remedy. 

We require the appointment, under public autho- 
rity, of a Professor of Medical Jurisprudence or Foren- 
sic Medicine. It is not possible to do full justice to 
this subject in Medical Colleges' — we teach there 
what is known; we want a person or persons who 
shall ascertain, if possible, the unknown; and great 
as have been the discoveries of late years in this 
science, still the cunning of the murderer has fre- 
quently outrun them. Why should not men, duly 
qualified, be appointed to such an office, who, by their 
researches, would be far in advance of those who, by 
secret, and in some cases almost unknown means, 
prevent detection in the commission of crime. There 
is a person now living,^ the certainty of whose 
knowledge on the power of poisons is such, that he 
is not only called to examine cases in every part of 
France, but not long since was summoned to Belgium 
in one which at the time, attracted the attention of 
all Europe. I hold that there should be two or three 

* Dr. Orfila. The next mail from abroad brought the news of his death. 



69 

persons of this character appointed and paid by the 
government to perform this important duty. 

It is impossible for our public institutions to support 
professorships in these various and accumulating 
sciences and branches of sciences. You require the 
aid of the government, or what is still better, private 
individuals must come forward, foster and support 
them. 

Addressing myself to an audience partly composed 
of members of the Legislature, I submit, with great 
deference, that there are certain subjects which most 
particularly claim their care and endowment. 

For example, a Professor of Statistics might be 
appointed with great advantage to the community. 
His duties would be laborious, but how much time 
and money might be saved were he to compare, ana- 
lyse and determine, what has been accomplished as 
to prisons, hospitals, asylums, and, indeed, the whole 
range of our corrective and beneficent institutions. 
How much useful information is even now gained by 
examining the returns of the census and of annual 
bills of mortality. I can only glance at this subject, 
nor can I do more with another, and which may be 
styled a professorship of Comparative Law and Legis- 
lation. Reform is on foot, even under absolute gov- 
ernments. One State is borrowing from another. 
Great efforts are making to simplify and condense the 
laws under which we live. 



70 

It is not within the bounds of possibility that men 
elected for one or two years to the Legislature are 
competent to grapple with these subjects. They 
should be furnished at the public expense with all the 
preliminary information that genius and industry can 
devise. 

And now, in concluding these hasty and not suffi- 
ciently digested remarks, I return to the point at 
which I commenced. I fear that the plan proposed 
by our president is scarcely attainable until after a 
series of years. Constitutional scruples will be inter- 
posed. Session after session in Congress, even if the 
subject were allowed a hearing, would be consumed 
in the discussion, nor would the sanction of Wash- 
ington, of a National University, as expressed in his 
will, be sufficiently regarded. 

It only remains to call on State and private patron- 
age. I consider it to be conceded, from the general 
interest that has now for several years been expressed 
on this subject, that there is a need of such an insti- 
tution, in its broadest sense, without encroaching on 
any other existing one, but in fact, being rather acces- 
sory to it. The wants of the masses call for it, for 
it is impossible to establish such an one, without hav- 
ing a number of free seats. 

There is an important branch of learning to which 
I have not as yet adverted, and that is physical astro- 
nomy, and its most important bearings on commerce 



71 

and navigation. I have not spoken of it until now. 
because I wish to bring its encouragement promi- 
nently forward as a model and an example for future 
action. 

Through the noble-hearted generosity of a ladv in 
this city, ample provision has been made for the 
erection and endowmen of an Observatory. — a most 
enduring monument to the memory of her deceased 
husband, who held a conspicuous position during his 
life, and whose memory is cherished by all who 
enjoyed the pleasure of his acquaintance. 

This Dudley Observatory is the commencement. 
What we now ask for. is that our wealthy men. who 
by their commercial, financial, or professional pur- 
suits. have been eminently successful — men who 
have acquired the title of merchant princes among 
us — men whose hands are open for every object of 
private or public beneficence, should come forward, 
and endow and thus found one or more professorships. 
Every such single endowment may. and doubtless 
will lead to another. I have no doubt that the sum 
of from (10,000 to $15,000 would be amply sufficient 
for that purpose. This would truly form a begin- 
ning, and I am strongly impressed with the opinion 
that in no other way can this University gain life 
and being. 

But if this should be the result, the understanding 
must be fully carried out. that it is not to be an insti- 
tution for boys and uirls. but for men and women. 



72 

An institution, where a person in any profession or 
position in life, who may desire to increase his store 
of knowledge, in any particular branch of it, may 
have the opportunity afforded to him. Such will be 
found in every rank of social life. The necessity of 
increase in knowledge is recognized by every right- 
minded man until the day of his death. It is keenly 
felt, even by those who look merely to pecuniary 
advantage. 

I have thus imperfectly endeavored to impress on 
my hearers, and particularly on the citizens of 
Albany, the necessity of moving in the matter, and 
of making a beginning, as alone promising a com- 
pletion. 



NON OMNIS MOEIAU. 

The various institutions and organizations with 
which Dr. Beck had been prominently connected, on 
the occasion of his decease expressed their apprecia- 
tion of his virtues and talents, and the great general 
loss sustained in his death, in the following proceed- 
ings and resolutions : 

University of the State of New- Yoke. — At a meet- 
ing of the Regents of the University of the State of 
New-York, held Nov. 29th, 1855, it was ordered that 
the following record be entered on their minutes : 

"The Regents, in recording the death of their late 
Secretary, Theodric Romeyn Beck, unanimously 



73 

express their high appreciation of the excellences of 
his character, distinguished by its modesty, simplicity 
and integrity, of the extent and variety of his acquire- 
ments, of his eminent, long-continued and efficient 
labors for the promotion of education and science, of 
his faithfulness and diligence in the discharge of the 
laborious and varied duties of his office, and of the 
great value of his services in the several departments 
belonging to it." 

Resolved, That in testimony of their respect for the 
deceased, the Board, together with its officers, will 
attend his funeral on Wednesday next, and that on 
that day the State Library be closed. 

Resolved, That the Regents tender to the family of 
the deceased the assurance of their sincere sympathy 
with them in their bereavement, and that a copy of 
this record, attested by the Chancellor, be transmitted 
to them. JOHN H. HICKCOX, 

Secretary pro tern. 



Managers of the New- York State Lunatic Asy- 
lum. — At a meeting of the managers of the State 
Lunatic Asylum, held at Utica, on the twenty-first 
day of November, 1855, it was 

Resolved, That the intelligence of the death of Dr. 

T. Romeyn Beck, the President of this Board, has 

been received with deep regret and sorrow ; that this 

Institution, from its commencement, has been greatly 

indebted to him for his wise counsels, his judicious 
10 



74 



and efficient action, his integrity and independence in 
pursuing the path of duty, his warm sympathy with 
its officers and the afflicted subjects of its care, and 
his prompt and hearty devotion to all its interests; 
and that, in his removal, it has suffered a loss which 
is painfully felt, and which can hardly be repaired. 
And that the individual members of this Board, 
remembering his great private as well as public worth, 
and having in mind the unbroken kindness and har- 
mony which have prevailed in their association with 
him, feel his death to be a severe personal affliction. 

Resolved, As a token of respect to his memory, 
that his funeral be attended by the superintendent of 
the asylum, and so many of the managers as shall be 
able to accompany him to Albany. 

Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be sent 
to the family of Dr. Beck. 

CHARLES A. MANN, Chairman. 

E. A. Wetmore, Secretary. 



Trustees of the Albany Medical College. — At a 
special meeting of the Trustees of the Albany Medi- 
cal College, held Nov. 20, 1855, on the occasion of 
the death of Dr. Theodric Romeyn Beck, 

Resolved, That we have learned with deep regret 
the death of Dr. Theodric Romeyn Beck, who for 
forty years past has been identified with almost every 
leading measure, in this State, for the promotion of 
education, and of medical and general science and 



75 

letters, and who for many years was one of the most 
laborious and distinguished professors in this institu- 
tion. That, while his varied attainments and his 
able and learned contributions to medical science, 
and to almost every department of liberal knowledge, 
have reflected honor upon himself and upon his 
country, he has endeared himself to us by his general 
and estimable qualities as a man, and by the example 
of a pure life devoted with great energy and single- 
ness of purpose, to objects of lasting interest and use- 
fulness to the whole community. 

Resolved, That we tender to his family our earnest 
and respectful sympathy. 

Resolved, That as a mark of our respect we will 
attend his funeral in a body. 

Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be sent 
to the family of the deceased, and be also published 
in the several daily papers. 

A. J. PARKER, President pro tern. 

0. Meads, Secretary pro tern. 



Proceedings of the Faculty of the Albany Medical 
College, at a meeting held Nov. 20, 1855: 

The Faculty have heard with deep regret of the 
death of their beloved and honored associate, Profes- 
sor T. Romeyn Beck, and wish to express their sense 
of his excellent qualities and eminent services. 

By his labors in science he was a benefactor of 
mankind, and an honor to his country; by his 



76 

teaching and influence he elevated the character of 
our profession and extended its usefulness; by the 
purity and honesty of his life he has commanded the 
respect, and by his noble and generous temper, won 
the love of all who knew him. Therefore, 

Resolved, That to mark our respect we will attend 
his funeral and wear the usual badge of mourning. 

Resolved, That we offer to his family our sincere 
sympathy in their affliction. 

Resolved, That these proceedings be entered on 
our minutes, and communicated to the family of the 
deceased. 

HOWARD TOWNSEND, Secretary, 



Alumni of the Albany Medical College. — At a spe- 
cial meeting of the Albany Medical College, con- 
vened on the occasion of the death of the late Dr. 
T. Romeyn Beck, on Tuesday evening, Dr. W. H. 
Craig, president of the society, arose and remarked 
as follows: 

Gentlemen of the Society, it becomes my duty to 
announce to you the decease of Prof. T. Eomeyn 
Beck, and the object of meeting at this time is one 
of a painful nature. 

The Alumni of the Albany Medical College owe, 
in part, their celebrity and prosperity to the teach- 
ings and influences of Prof. T. Romeyn Beck. We 
have indeed occasion to mourn his loss. Identified 
as he was with a department of medical instruction 



77 

requiring ripe scholarship, profound and accurate 
analysis, he was pre-eminently qualified to impart 
knowledge, and lead the pupil through the labyrinth 
of scientific research. His name will ever be asso- 
ciated with the science of medical jurisprudence. 

We have, in the present instance, opened up anew 
a train of sorrowful recollections. It is but a short 
time since a vacant chair in the laboratory told of 
the loss to us of another instructor and guide. It is 
rare to meet, united by kindred, two nobler or more 
illustrious in social or professional life than the broth- 
ers Beck. In their decease, in the meridian of their 
usefulness, education has lost noble advocates, and 
we worthy exemplars. I trust that the recollection 
of the many virtues of the deceased may be to us, 
in the pursuit of a noble profession, a guiding and 
inspiring remembrance. Hoping that the society 
will adopt some suitable mode of expressing their 
sorrow for this bereavement, I leave the subject with 
you. 

Dr. U. 0. Bigelow, president of the Albany County 
Medical Society, also paid a feeling tribute to the 
memory of the deceased. 

Prof. Quackenbush, of the Albany Medical Col- 
lege, made a few remarks, after which he presented 
the following resolutions, which were unanimously 
adopted : 

Resolved, That the alumni and members of the 
Albany Medical College have received with sincere 



78 

sorrow and regret the announcement of the death of 
their former teacher, Theodric Romeyn Beck. 

Resolved, That while this announcement occasions 
deep sorrow, the memory of his great attainments, 
his extended usefulness, his world-wide reputation, 
his kind and generous qualities, and his noble virtues, 
afford consolation in the hour of bereavement. 

Resolved, That we respectfully tender to the family 
of the deceased, our heartfelt sympathy in their 
affliction. 

Resolved, That we will attend, as a society, the 
funeral of the deceased. 

Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be sent 
to the family. 

WM. H. CRAIG, President. 

Levi Moore, Secretary. 



Medical Society of the county of Albany. — At a 
meeting of this society, held in the Common Council 
chamber, on Tuesday, November 20th, at 12 P. M., 
the meeting having been called by the president, Dr. 
Bigelow, in consequence of the death of Dr. T. Ro- 
meyn Beck, who has been a member of the society 
since 1811 — Dr. James McNaughton rose and spoke 
of his long and intimate relations with the deceased, 
and that upon him now, as the oldest member pre- 
sent, devolved the melancholy privilege of presenting 
for the consideration of the society the following: 



79 

Whereas, It hath pleased God to remove by death 
our associate and much esteemed friend, Theodric 
Romeyn Beck; and 

Whereas, It is meet and proper, that when men, who 
have been eminently useful in their generation, are 
called from their labors, their decease should be fol- 
lowed by a public expression of a sense of the loss sus- 
tained by the community to which they belonged ; and 

Whereas, Our lamented brother was not only dis- 
tinguished for his social and private virtues, but for 
great public services, which rendered him a bene- 
factor to the human race ; therefore, 

Resolved, That, as a mark of respect to the mem- 
ory of our deceased brother, we will attend his fune- 
ral in a body, and wear the usual badge of mourning. 

Resolved, That we deeply sympathize with the 
familv of the deceased in their affliction, and offer 
our sincere condolence. 

Resolved, That a copy of these proceedings be 
transmitted to the family of the deceased. 

The resolutions were unanimously adopted, and 
the society adjourned, to meet at oj o'clock, P. M., 
Wednesday, at the Common Council chamber, pre- 
paratory to attending the funeral. 

SYLVESTER D. WILLARD, Secretary. 



Albany Institute. — At a meeting held at the 
Albany Academy, Monday evening, Nov. 19th, 1855, 
the following was unanimously adopted : 



80 

The members of the Albany Institute, assembled 
on the occasion of the death of Theodric Romeyn 
Beck, their president, desirous of paying to his mem- 
ory those tokens of respect which are prompted by 
their sincere affection for him while living, and their 
sorrow at his death, and which are due to his large 
attainments in letters and science ; to his labors for 
many years in the advancement and diffusion of sound 
learning ; to his practical wisdom in the discharge of 
the many duties which have been imposed upon him ; 
to his kindly temper, to his benevolent heart, to his 
unstained integrity in all the relations of a long life, 
do resolve, — 

1. That they tender to the family of the deceased 
their respectful sympathy in the affliction that has 
fallen upon them. 

2. That they will, in a body, attend the funeral of 
the deceased. 

3. That the record of these proceedings be entered 
upon the minutes of the Institute, and that a copy 
thereof be delivered to the family. 

Members will assemble at the Institute rooms at 
3j P. M. 

JOHN E. GAYIT, Recording Sec'y. 



Trustees of the Albany Academy. — At a meeting 
of the Trustees of the Albany Academy, held Nov. 
20,1855: 



81 

This Board having learned with deep sorrow the 
decease of their honored friend and associate, The- 
odric Romeyn Beck, M. D., LL. D., who for more than 
thirty years was the principal of the Academy, and 
for the last seven years has been the president of this 
Board, deem it proper to record their sense of the 
eminent services rendered by the deceased to this 
Institution and to the cause of science and education. 
And especially would they bear witness to the sim- 
plicity, frankness, and elevation of his character, — 
to the respect and affection with which he was ever 
regarded by his pupils, — to his large and varied lite- 
rary and scientific acquirements, and to the disinte- 
rested zeal and faithfulness with which he labored 
through the whole course of his life to advance the 
interests of sound learning. 

Resolved, That as a manifestation of our esteem 
and respect for the deceased, we will attend his fune- 
ral in a bpdy, and wear the usual badge of mourning ; 
and that the faculty, with the former and present 
students of the Academy, be requested to join us. 

Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be sent 
to the family of the deceased, and be also published 
in the several city papers. 

R. V. DEWITT, President pro tern. 

W. A. Miller, Secretary. 



Alpha Sigma. — At a special meeting of the Alpha 

Sigma, held Nov. 20th, 1855, the President having 
11 



82 



announced the death of Dr. T. Romeyn Beck, on 
motion the following were appointed a committee to 
draft resolutions expressive of the feelings of the 
Society; John E. McElroy, W. H. Haskell, E. B. 
Miller, E. J. Miller, and J. C. McClure; who reported 
the following, which were unanimously adopted : 

Whereas, The Alpha Sigma, composed of the former 
students of the Albany Academy, have heard with 
profound sorrow of the death of their much beloved 
principal, Dr. Theodric Romeyn Beck ; and 

Whereas, The members of this Society individually 
can testify to his care and devoted exertions as prin- 
cipal of that Institution, and of his good- will and 
friendship to each and every one in later years; 
therefore, in testimony of our grief for his loss, be it 
hereby 

Resolved, That in the death of Dr. Beck, we recog- 
nize the inscrutable providence of an all- wise Jehovah, 
in the removing from our midst a bright and shining 
light, distinguished alike for the brilliancy of his 
genius, and the simplicity and honesty of a refined 
and generous heart. 

Resolved, That this Society unite with the other 
students of the Academy in testifying our veneration 
for the memory of Dr. Beck, and that we hold his 
life to be an exemplary criterion for our fellow young 
men here and elsewhere. 

Resolved, That this Society attend the funeral of 
Dr. Beck in a body, and that a copy of these proceed- 



83 

ings be transmitted to the family of the deceased, and 
published in the city papers. 

A. McCLURE, Jr., President. 
R. V. DeWitt, Jr., Secretary pro tern. 



Meeting of the Old Pupils of the Albany Acad- 
emy. — Pursuant to the published notice, a very large 
attendance of the pupils of the late Dr. Beck was 
held yesterday at the Academy. 

Mr. Miller, Principal of the Academy, called the 
meeting to order, and nominated J. V. L. Pruyn, Esq., 
as chairman, and the nomination being confirmed, 
Mr. Pruyn, on taking the chair, made a few appropri- 
ate remarks in reference to Dr. Beck, and concluded 
with the suggestion that an appropriate testimonial 
should be erected in memory of the deceased. 

On motion, Lewis Benedict, Jr., was nominated as 
secretary. 

Mr. Meads moved that the chair appoint a commit- 
tee of nine to draw up resolutions expressive of the 
feelings of the meeting. He prefaced his motion with 
an eloquent tribute to the character of the deceased, 
briefly reviewing his life as that of one whose exam- 
ple and whose works rendered his demise a public 
loss. He, too, cordially seconded the suggestion of 
the chairman, that a permanent and enduring memo- 
rial should be erected. 

The chair appointed the following committee on 
resolutions : Orlando Meads, Andrew Brown, Henry 



84 

L. King, Carlton Edwards, Robert H. Pruyn, Gilbert 
H.Wilson, Rev. Sylvanus Reed, George W. Carpenter, 
George Ten Broeck. 

The following resolutions were thereupon submit- 
ted and unanimously adopted: 

Whereas, The graduates and old pupils of Albany 
Academy are desirous of expressing in some public 
manner their affection and esteem for their former 
teacher, Dr. T. Romeyn Beck; therefore be it 

Resolved, That in his death they mourn the loss of 
an instructor who devoted the best years of a long 
and useful life to the young, and whose unremitting 
and laborious efforts in their behalf should enshrine 
his memory in the hearts of all the friends of the 
noble cause of education. 

Resolved, That the Albany Academy owes much of 
its reputation and success to the protracted and syste- 
matic regulation of Dr. Beck, who, for a period of 
over thirty years, was its head and principal, and 
whose wholesome advice and judicious discipline gave 
it an honored and respected position among similar 
institutions throughout the land. 

Resolved, That his old pupils desire to pay, in the 
same simple and unpretending spirit which was one 
of the noted traits in the remarkable character of 
their former teacher, a tribute to the excellence of 
his life, his unselfish and self-sacrificing disposition, 
to the soundness of his judgment, the sagacity of his 
intellect, and to the generous and genial graces which 



85 

made Dr. Beck a universal favorite among his pupils. 

Resolved, That we mourn in his loss a devoted 
friend to the young and middle-aged men of Albany, 
and find in his death another link broken in the chain 
which unites the past with the present, and a fresh 
severing of old ties and cherished associations con- 
nected with the earlier and happier moments of life. 

Resolved, That we attend his funeral obsequies in 
a body, and that the family and more immediate 
friends of the deceased have our sympathy and con- 
dolence in an event which has bereaved them and 
inflicted a loss upon our own city and the world at 
large. 

Resolved, That the chair appoint a committee of 
ten, who shall be charged with the duty of procuring 
some suitable memorial of the deceased, to be placed 
in the academy, or its grounds. 

The appointment of the committee under the last 
resolution, was left with the chair to report, and pub- 
lish hereafter. 

The meeting then adjourned. 



Executive Committee of the State Normal School. 
— At a meeting of the Executive Committee of the 
State Normal School, held at the office of the Super- 
intendent of Public Instruction, on Tuesday afternoon, 
Nov. 20th, 1855, the following preamble and resolu- 
tions were offered by the Superintendent, and ordered 
to be entered upon the minutes: 



86 

The Executive Committee of the New- York Nor- 
mal School, in recording the decease of their Secre- 
tary, T. Romeyn Beck, M. D., take occasion to declare 
their deep and earnest consciousness that the spirit 
of a good and useful man has withdrawn from the 
earth; that from society has been taken one of its 
brightest ornaments ; that this department of science 
has lost an efficient laborer and zealous teacher, and 
that the school of which this committee have charge 
has been deprived of an able and constant friend. 
In consideration, and as a befitting acknowledgment 
of this afflictive dispensation, it is therefore hereby 

Resolved, That, in testimony of veneration and 
respect for the memory of the deceased, and with a 
desire to emulate his virtues, this committee will 
attend his funeral on Wednesday next, and order that 
on that day the State Normal School shall be closed, 
and its exercises suspended. 

Resolved, That we tender to his bereaved family 
the assurance of our sympathy with them in the loss 
which they have sustained, in the dissolution of rela- 
tions, the duties of which were performed by the 
deceased with the most constant rectitude, affection 
and fidelity; and that a copy of this record, certified 
by the Superintendent of Public Instruction, be 
transmitted to them as an evidence thereof. 

CHAS. L. AUSTIN, Secretary pro tern. 



87 

At a special meeting of Master's Lodge, No. 5, of 
Free and Accepted Masons, held at Masonic Hall, on 
the evening of Wednesday, Nov. 20th, the Worship- 
ful Master having announced the decease of Brother 
Theodric Rorueyn Beck, on motion, a committee of 
three were appointed to draft resolutions suitable to 
the occasion, who reported the following : 

Resolved, That Master's Lodge has received with 
great regret the intelligence of the decease of one of 
its earliest and most eminent members. 

Resolved, That while the members most sincerely 
sympathise with the family and friends, in their sad 
bereavement, they are consoled by the reflection, that 
the life of their cherished brother has been spent in 
the exercise of all that is great and noble, and that 
his whole career has been distinguished by an earnest 
endeavor to render himself useful to his fellow-men. 

Resolved, That, as a tribute of respect to his mem- 
ory, this Lodge will attend his funeral in a body, and 
wear the usual badge of mourning. 

Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be 
communicated to the family of the deceased, and 
also published. 

JOHN JACOB WENDELL, 
STEPHEN CLARK, 
CHAS. D. RATHBONE, 

Committee. 

Cornelius Glen, Secretary. 



88 



FUNERAL OF DR. BECK. 

The funeral of Dr. Beck was very largely attended 
on Wednesday afternoon, November 21st, from the 
house of his son-in-law, Hon. William Parmelee. 
Rev. Dr. Campbell conducted the services, and paid 
an eloquent and appropriate tribute to the distin- 
guished character and virtues of the deceased. 

The funeral cortege moved from the house at half- 
past four, in the following order : 

Clergy of the City. 

Bearers. 

Mourners. 

Regents of the University. 

Officers of the State Lunatic Asylum. 

Officers and Members of the Medical Society. 

Free and Accepted Masons. 

Trustees and Faculty of the Albany Medical College. 

Trustees and Faculty of the Albany Academy. 

Former Students and Graduates of the 

Albany Academy. 

Present Pupils of the Albany Academy. 

Citizens. 

Officers of the Police Department. 



New- York State Medical Society, February 7, 
1856. — Dr. Fisher, of Sing Sing, presented the fol- 
lowing, which was unanimously adopted : 



89 

Whereas, Prof. Theodric Romeyn Beck, of the city 
of Albany, — who for thirty-nine years has been a 
permanent member of this Society, and for several 
terms the distinguished president of the same, whose 
"Transactions" from its origin to the present time 
have been enriched by his erudite communications, 
its members encouraged by his noble example, — has 
since our last meeting, after a long illness, been 
removed by death; therefore, 

Resolved, That in the death of Dr. T. R. Beck, the 
State Medical Society has lost one of its most valua- 
ble members, the Faculty of the Albany College one 
of their main pillars of strength, the medical profes- 
sion of the State of New- York, of the United States, 
and of the world at large, one of the most devoted, 
indefatigable, and earnest promoters of medical sci- 
ence. 

Resolved, That the deaf, the dumb, the insane, have 
lost their most faithful friend ; the cause of education, 
and the public generally, one of its greatest benefac- 
tors. 

Resolved, That we feel deeply this dispensation 
of Divine Providence, and sympathise profoundly 
with his family and friends in this their greatest 
affliction. 

Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be trans- 
mitted to the family of the deceased. 

The Society adjourned to meet at 7 o'clock, to hear 

Dr. Hamilton's address. 
12 



90 



The Society met at 7 J o'clock, and proceeded to 
the Capitol, where the President of the Society, Dr. 
Frank H. Hamilton, delivered the annual address, the 
subject of which was, " Life and Character of Theodric 
Romeyn Beck, M. D., LL. D." 

Dr. Goodrich presented the following, which was 
adopted : 

Resolved, That the thanks of the Society are emi- 
nently due, and are hereby tendered, to the President, 
Dr. Hamilton, for his interesting and truthful deline- 
ation of the life and character of the late Dr. Beck, 
and that he be requested to furnish a copy to the 
committee of publication for the Transactions of the 
Society. 

The address occupied over an hour, and was lis- 
tened to with great interest by a large audience. 






EULOGY 



OX THE 



LIFE AND CHARACTER 



OF 



THEODRIC RQMEYN BECK, H, 0„ IL, D, 



1 Ul| 



FRANK HASTINGS HAMILTON, M. D. 






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